WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON. 


WILLIAM     LLOYD    GARRISON. 

^Etat.  72. 
Front  the  bust  by  Anne  Whitney,  1878. 


MY  COIllY  IS  THE  WORLD: 
MY  COUNTRYMEN  ARE  ALL  MANKIND. 


WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON 

1805-1879 


THE    STORY   OF   HIS   LIFE 


TOLD  BY  HIS   CHILDREN 


VOLUME  I.      1805-1835 


EJ 


NEW-YORK:     THE   CENTURY   CO. 

1885 


Copyright,  1885,  by 
WENDELL  PHILLIPS  GARRISON 

and 
FRANCIS  JACKSON  GARRISON. 


The  truth  is,  he  who  commences  any  reform  ivhich  at  last  becomes 
one  of  transcendent  importance  and  is  crowned  with  victory,  is  always 
ill-judged  and  unfairly  estimated.  At  the  outset  he  is  looked  upon 
with  contempt,  and  treated  in  the  most  opprobrious  manner,  as  a  wild 
fanatic  or  a  dangerous  disorganize)*.  In  due  time  the  cause  grows  and 
advances  to  its  sure  triumph  ;  and  in  proportion  as  it  nears  the  goal, 
the  popular  estimate  of  his  character  changes,  till  finally  excessive 
panegyric  is  substituted  for  outrageous  abuse.  The  praise,  on  the  one 
hand,  and  the  defamation  on  the  other,  are  equally  unmerited.  In  the 
clear  light  of  Reason,  it  will  be  seen  that  he  simply  stood  up  to  discharge 
a  duty  which  he  owed  to  his  God,  to  his  fellow-men,  to  the  land  of  his 
nativity. 

WM.  LLOYD  GARRISON,  at  the  Celebra 
tion  of  the  Twentieth  Anniversary  of  the 
Liberator,  Jan.  24, 1851. 

It  appears  to  us  a  self-evident  truth,  that,  whatever  the  gospel  is 
designed  to  destroy  at  any  period  of  the  icorld,  being  contrary  to  it, 

ought  NOW  to  be  abandoned. 

WM.  LLOYD  GARRISON,  in  the  Declaration 
of  Sentiments  of  the  Peace  Convention  at 
Boston,  Sept.  18-20,  1838. 

In  short,  I  did  what  I  could  for  the  redemption  of  the  human 
race. 

WM.  LLOYD  GARRISON  to  Henry  c.  Wright, 

Aug.  23,  1840. 


TO 

SAMUEL  MAY, 

OF  LEICESTER,    MASSACHUSETTS, 
WHO   FREED   FROM   TOIL  AND   CARE   THE   DECLINING  YEARS   OF 

WILLIAM  LLOYD  GARRISON, 

THIS  WORK  IS   GRATEFULLY  AND   AFFECTIONATELY 
INSCRIBED. 

noMs  haec  otia  fecit. 


PREFACE. 

THE  delicacy  of  the  task  begun  in  these  volumes  called 
for  an  unusually  copious  reference  to  authorities.  In  order 
to  effect  a  division  between  the  specialist  and  the  general 
reader,  indications  of  the  sources  (together  with  sundry  ex 
plicatory  entries)  are  placed  in  the  margin,  opposite  the  line 
or  passage  to  which  they  relate.  These,  though  sometimes 
immediately  helpful,  can  be  neglected  by  any  one  not  intent 
on  enlarging  his  information  or  proving  the  veracity  of  the 
narrative.  The  foot-notes,  on  the  other  hand,  however  much 
they  interrupt  the  reader's  progress,  cannot,  as  a  rule,  safely 
be  overlooked.  Taken  together,  the  two  sets  of  references 
will  meet,  it  is  hoped,  the  requirements  of  study,  of  contro 
versy,  and  of  veneration. 

By  far  the  greater  number  of  them  are  to  the  Liberator, 
which,  to  an  extent  seldom  witnessed  in  journalism,  in 
volves  at  once  the  biography  and  the  autobiography  of  its 
editor,  and  which,  as  has  been  truthfully  said,  contains  "  the 
archives  of  the  abolition  cause"  and  "the  spirit  of  the  age 
on  the  great  subject  of  slavery."  Moreover,  its  files  are 
accessible  in  the  principal  public  libraries  of  the  country.1 

1  The  following  is  a  list  of  the  completest  known  to  us :  MAINE,  Portland, 
Public  Library.  MASSACHUSETTS,  Boston,  Public  Library,  Athenaeum ; 
Cambridge,  Harvard  College  Library;  Worcester,  American  Antiquarian 
Society.  RHODE  ISLAND,  Providence,  Rhode  Island  Historical  Society. 
NEW  YORK,  New  York  City,  Astor  Library ;  Brooklyn,  Long  Island  His 
torical  Society;  Ithaca,  Cornell  University  Library.  OHIO,  Cincinnati, 
Public  Library.  DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA,  Washington,  Library  of  Congress. 
In  private  hands  we  can  enumerate  complete  sets  in  possession  of  Mr. 
Garrison's  family  at  Roxbury,  Mass.,  and  of  the  Misses  Weston  at  Wey- 
mouth,  Mass.,  and  one  nearly  complete  in  the  great  anti-slavery  collection 
of  Mr.  Daniel  Parish,  of  New  YoA:  City  The  occasionally  faulty  paging 
of  the  Liberator  we  have  endeavored  to  rectify  in  our  references. 

ix 


X  PREFACE. 

We  have  assumed,  without  fear  or  question,  the  entire  good 
faith  of  the  reproductions  from  other  newspapers  which 
abound  in  the  Liberator — particularly  those  contained  in  "  The 
Refuge  of  Oppression,"  the  great  repository  of  sentiments 
hostile  to  the  abolition  movement. 

The  hitherto  unpublished  manuscripts  of  which  such  exten 
sive  use  has  been  made  in  composing  the  present  work,  form 
part  of  what  is  beyond  doubt  the  largest  and  most  important 
collection  of  anti-slavery  autographs  in  existence  —  chance- 
medley  as  it  is.  This  collection  will  be  deposited  with  the 
Boston  Public  Library  in  perpetuity,  for  the  use  of  students. 
Mr.  Garrison's  letters  have  been  set  apart  by  themselves, 
and  will  likewise  be  open  to  inspection  at  the  same  institu 
tion  j  but,  for  family  reasons,  some  few  of  those  partially 
quoted  in  the  succeeding  narrative  have  been  reserved  from 
the  gift  to  the  public.  A  certain  number,  also,  of  which  we 
have  been  permitted  to  make  copies,  remain  in  private  hands. 

In  so  large  a  mass  of  numerical  references  there  cannot  fail 
to  be  errors  both  of  transcription  and  of  typography.  Errors 
of  fact,  too,  have  doubtless  escaped  our  vigilance.  For  all 
these,  whether  in  text,  margin,  or  note,  or  in  the  index  (which 
has  been  turned  to  biographical  account),  we  ask  indulgence, 
and  invite  friendly  correction  through  the  publishers,  or 
through  either  of  the  undersigned.  We  have  been  extremely 
fortunate  in  having  had  the  criticism,  either  for  the  manu 
scripts  or  for  the  proof-sheets,  of  Samuel  May,  Oliver  Johnson, 
and  Maria  Weston  Chapman,  three  veterans  of  the  cause,  as 
intimately  acquainted  with  the  subject  of  this  memoir  as  any 
persons,  not  of  his  own  family,  living  or  departed,  that  could 
be  named.  To  our  lasting  regret,  Mrs.  Chapman  did  not 
survive  to  read  the  closing  chapters  of  the  second  volume. 

The  illustrations,  thanks  to  the  liberality  of  the  publishers, 
are  more  numerous  than  we  could  have  expected.  Preference 
has  been  given  to  portraits,  and  among  these  to  such  as  have 
never  been  engraved  before.  Some  that  might,  from  the 
close  personal  relations  of  the  subjects  of  them  to  Mr.  Gar- 


PREFACE.  XI 

rison,  have  appeared  here,  will  find  an  appropriate  place  in 
subsequent  volumes.  Our  endeavor  has  been,  where  possible, 
to  secure  portraits  most  nearly  contemporaneous  with  the 
beginnings  of  the  anti-slavery  cause.  In  this  we  have  been 
fairly  successful,  through  the  kind  assistance  of  friends  and 
relatives,  to  whom  we  here  renew  our  hearty  acknowledg 
ments. 

To  enumerate  all  those  to  whom  we  are  under  obligations 
in  the  preparation  of  the  text,  would  be  difficult,  and  we  must 
beg  them  collectively  to  accept  our  assurances  of  gratitude. 
One  who  is  no  longer  with  us,  however,  deserves  to  be  named 
for  her  extraordinary  services  in  arranging  the  manuscript 
treasures  described  above.  Their  availability  has  added  in 
calculable  value  to  our  labors,  and  will  be  a  lasting  monument 
to  the  memory  of  Mary  Pratt  Garrison.  j 

For  the  period  covered  by  these  volumes,  Mr.  Garrison  j 
was  the  incarnation  of  the  cause  which  he  founded.  On 
this  account  it  has  been  extremely  difficult  to  keep  within 
strictly  biographical  limits,  as  well  as  to  reduce  the  bulk  of 
this  work.  On  both  sides  we  are  probably  open  to  censure. 
As  regards  bulkiness.  let  it  be  remembered  what  self-denial 
and  toil  were  necessary  to  tell  so  much  in  so  little  compass. 
And,  for  the  rest,  if  anything  admitted  be  thought  irrelevant 
to  the  biography,  may  it  be  pardoned  as  throwing  light  upon 
one  of  the  greatest  moral  movements  in  the  annals  of  man- 1 
kind.  We  are  more  apprehensive,  in  truth,  that  fault  will  be  ' 
found  with  us  for  omissions  in  regard  to  general  anti-slavery 
history,  or  to  Mr.  Garrison's  co-workers.  Here,  in  all  sin 
cerity,  we  must  plead  our  simple  intention  to  produce  a 
biography.  So  far  as  we  have  adhered  to  this,  we  may 
possibly  be  charged  with  prolixity,  but  we  may  safely  chal 
lenge  any  one  to  show  that  concealment  has  been  practised, 
where,  indeed,  there  was  nothing  to  conceal. 

With  these  explanatory  remarks,  we  offer  to  Mr.  Garrison's 
countrymen — to  his  countrymen  in  the  narrow  sense  and  in 
that  of  his  favorite  motto  —  a  faithful  portrait  of  his  life. 


XU  PREFACE. 

Writing  not  without  bias,  surely,  but  in  a  spirit  emulous  of 
the  absolute  fairness  which  distinguished  our  father,  we  have 
done  little  more  than  coordinate  materials  to  serve  posterity  in 
forming  that  judgment  of  him  which  we  have  no  desire  to 
forestall.  In  a  literary  point  of  view,  we  have  aimed  at 
nothing  more  than  clearness,  sequence,  and  proportion. 

The  force  of  this  narrative  is  cumulative,  in  a  high  degree. 
No  one — let  the  observation  seem  ever  so  naif — who  does  not 
read  it  consecutively,  and  (from  the  pains  we  have  been  at  to 
avoid  repetition)  closely,  will  arrive  at  a  just  conception  of 
the  man,  the  cause,  or  the  times.  Many  threads,  of  course, 
lead  nowhere.  Individual  careers  are  not  followed  out  to  the 
end,  whether  more  or  less  intimately  connected  with  Mr.  Gar 
rison's.  The  threads  of  his  development,  on  the  other  hand, 
are  kept  together  as  sedulously  as  in  a  novel. 

In  the  field  to  which  we  now  invite  the  general  reader  we 
have  had  almost  no  predecessors.  The  growing  but  still  small 
number  of  anti-slavery  memoirs1  afford  hardly  a  glimpse  of 
the  inner  working  of  the  organization  which  it  was  Mr.  Gar 
rison's  destiny  to  create  and  to  direct.  In  the  following  pages 
we  are  brought  face  to  face  with  a  world  which  will  appear 
wholly  new  and  strange  to  the  generation  now  upon  the  scene. 
The  school  histories  of  the  United  States,  with  scarcely  an 
exception,  ignore  it  altogether ;  it  barely  conies  within  the 
horizon  of  the  manuals  of  American  history  ;  it  is  invisible  in 
the  biographies  of  public  men  of  the  era  before  the  rise  of  the 
Republican  party,  or  even  down  to  the  eve  of  the  Rebellion. 
Yet  the  abolitionists,  it  is  now  confessed,  were  all  the  time 
occupied  with  the  main  question  of  American  politics — with 

1  Among  the  more  recent,  see  particularly  the  Lives  of  Arthur  Tappan, 
Samuel  J.  May/Gerrit  Smith,  James  and  Lucretia  Mott,  George  Bradburn ; 
S.  J.  May's  '  Recollections  of  our  Anti-Slavery  Conflict ' ;  the  '  Letters  of 
Lydia  Maria  Child ' ;  Parker  Pillsbury's  '  Acts  of  the  Anti-Slavery  Apos 
tles ';  and  Oliver  Johnson's  'Garrison  and  his  Times.'  The  last-named 
work,  composed  and  published  since  Mr.  Garrison's  death,  is  the  best  and 
indeed  the  only  general  view  of  his  career,  particularly  from  the  anti- 
slavery  standpoint.  It  can  be  read  with  profit  both  before  and  after  the 
reading  of  the  present  biography. 


PREFACE.  X1U 

what  had  been  the  main  question  ever  since  the  formation  of 
the  Constitution. 

It  will,  however,  quickly  appear  that  while  abolitionism  is 
the  leading  phase  of  the  present  biography,  a  host  of  other 
reforms  enter  in  by  virtue  of  Mr.  Garrison's  profoundly 
religious  nature.  No  one  so  perfectly  and  conspicuously  rep 
resented  that  remarkable  age  of  ferment,  between  1825  and 
1840,  which  will  always  be  full  of  attraction  for  the  philosophic 
mind.  We  have  elsewhere  called  it  the  revival  age.  Modern 
science  dates  no  further  back :  steam,  chemistry,  and  elec 
tricity  began  then  to  work  together  for  the  marvellous  ma 
terial  development  of  the  race,  and  for  the  corresponding 
expansion  of  the  human  spirit.  The  authority  of  the  Bible, 
as  an  infallible  and  universally  applicable  guide  to  conduct, 
reached  then  its  highest  pitch.  No  one  now  aiming  to  effect 
a  great  moral  revolution  would  consider  it  indispensable  to 
yoke  the  churches  to  his  scheme,  or  to  prove  its  legitimacy  by 
chapter  and  verse  from  either  Testament.  From  this  point  of 
view  the  anti-slavery  agitation  possesses  peculiar  interest,  as 
probably  the  last  great  reform  that  the  world  is  likely  to  see 
based  upon  the  Bible  and  carried  out  with  a  millennial  fervor. 
The  so-called  Christian  contemporaries  of  Mr.  Garrison  judged 
him  and  his  "isms"  not  by  the  Bible  to  which  he  constantly 
(though  not  exclusively)  referred  them,  but  by  temporary 
considerations,  of  personal  advantage  and  public  welfare, 
which  have  always  prevailed  with  the  human  race  above 
abstract  professions,  however  sacred.  A  generation  which  is 
at  last  conscious  of  the  law  of  evolution  illustrated  by  Darwin, 
and  is  familiar  with  his  views  on  the  origin  of  the  human 
species,  on  the  derivation  of  the  moral  sense  and  of  the  sanc 
tions  of  morality,  may  find  it  hard  to  sympathize  with  Mr. 
Garrison's  scriptural  propaganda,  yet  ought  to  be  able  to 
decide  impartially  between  him  and  his  opponents  on  the 
common  ground  of  loyalty  to  Revelation. 

While  the  present  instalment  of  Mr.  Garrison's  Life  presents 
the  fundamental  characteristics  of  the  man,  much  remains  to 


XIV  PREFACE. 

be  told  both  as  regards  his  anti-slavery  policy  and  his  religious 
growth.  His  domestic  aspect,  here  shown  only  incidentally, 
must  also  be  postponed.  Such  leisure  as  we  can  snatch  from 
engrossing  daily  occupation  shall  be  given  to  the  further 
prosecution  of  our  reluctant  but  dutiful  undertaking.  Its 
toilsomeness  is  lightened  not  by  the  feeling  that  we  are  vin 
dicating  our  parent,  but  by  the  hope  that  the  unfinished  work 
of  his  life,  the  unfulfilled  aspirations  of  his  youth  as  of  his 
old  age,  will  be  promoted  by  this  review  of  his  fortunate  career. 
"  To  banish  war  from  the  earth,  to  stay  the  ravages  of  intem 
perance,  ...  to  unfetter  those  who  have  been  enthralled 
by  chains  which  we  have  forged  [as  in  the  subjection  of  women] , 
and  to  spread  the  light  of  knowledge  and  religious  liberty 
wherever  darkness  and  superstition  reign" —  are  still  the  highest 
aims  of  every  lover  of  his  kind.  They  were  all  summed  up  in 
the  doctrine  of  Peace  arrived  at,  enunciated,  and  exemplified 
by  the  subject  of  this  biography.  May  our  imperfect  illustra 
tion  of  it  do  something  to  console  and  strengthen  those  whose 
hearts  are  sickened  by  the  world-prevailing  spirit  of  violence 
and  destructiveness.  May  it  also  serve  to  enlighten  moralists 
who,  without  having  openly  repudiated  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount  as  a  rule  of  conduct,  regard  Christian  non-resistance 
as  an  absurdity. 

WENDELL  PHILLIPS  GARRISON,  New  York. 
FRANCIS  JACKSON  GARRISON,  Boston. 

THE   FIFTIETH   ANNIVERSARY 
OF   THE   BOSTON   MOB, 

1885. 


POSTSCRIPT. 

THE  following  pages  were  both  stereotyped  and  printed  before  we  had 
an  opportunity  of  examining  that  rare  work  by  the  Rev.  George  Bourne, 
'  The  Book  and  Slavery  Irreconcilable '  (Philadelphia,  1816).  We  failed 
to  recognize  as  an  extract  from  it  the  sentiment  ascribed  to  ''Bourne" 
and  placed  by  Mr.  Garrison  at  the  head  of  the  first  column  of  No.  17  of 
Volume  I.  of  the  Liberator  (see  the  facsimile  facing  p.  232  within).  Had 
we  not  overlooked  this,  we  should  have  given  to  Bourne  the  distinction 
allowed  to  the  Rev.  James  Duncan  on  p.  144  within,  of  being  the  first  to 
broach  the  doctrine  of  immediatism  in  the  United  States.  The  passage  in 
question  is  found  on  p.  12  of  the  appendix  (dated  Sept.  6,  1815):  "The 
system  is  so  entirely  corrupt  that  it  admits  of  no  cure  but  by  a  total  and 
immediate  abolition.  For  a  gradual  emancipation  is  a  virtual  recognition 
of  the  right,  and  establishes  the  rectitude  of  the  practice.  If  it  be  just  for 
one  moment,  it  is  hallowed  for  ever ;  and  if  it  be  inequitable,  not  a  day 
should  it  be  tolerated."  The  same  phraseology,  "immediate  and  total 
abolition,"  occurs  on  p.  19  of  the  main  text,  while  gradualism  is  repudiated 
expressly  on  pp.  133,  139,  140,  and  generally  by  the  whole  tenor  of  the 
argument.  Moreover,  a  full  year  before  the  formation  of  the  American 
Colonization  Society,  Bourne  wrote  (p.  134) :  "  How  shall  we  expel  the  evil? 
Colonization  is  totally  impracticable." 

We  have  unconsciously  furnished,  on  p.  207  within,  proof  that  Mr.  Gar 
rison  was  familiar  with  '  The  Book  and  Slavery  Irreconcilable  '  as  early  as 
Sept.  13,  1830,  for  the  quoted  passage  beginning,  "For  this  thing  which  it 
cannot  bear,"  etc.,  was  taken  from  p.  57  of  Bourne.  So,  likewise,  the 
inquiry  on  p.  206,  "Are  there  not  Balaams  in  our  land  who  prophesy  in 
the  name  of  the  Lord,  but  covet  the  presents  of  Balak  ? "  reproduced  an 
affirmation  of  Bourne's  (p.  19).  So,  again,  the  spirited  passage  in  Mr.  Gar 
rison's  Liberator  salutatory,  p.  225  within,  "On  this  subject,  I  do  not  wish 
to  think,  or  speak,  or  write,  with  moderation,"  etc.,  was  borrowed  (and 
bettered)  from  Charles  James  Fox  as  cited  on  p.  4  of  Bourne. 

It  would  have  gratified  us  to  give  in  their  proper  places  these  illustra 
tions  of  Mr.  Garrison's  obligations  to  the  work  as  avowed  by  him  on  p.  306. 
He  never  surpassed  its  "  harsh  language,"  or  the  "  Scriptural  pungency  " 
of  its  arraignment  of  pro-slavery  churches,  clergy  and  Christian  professors. 
Those  to  whom  this  bold  abolition  landmark  is  inaccessible,  may  see  an 
exceUent  summary  of  it  in  the  Boston  Commomvealth  of  July  25,  1885. 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


VOL.  I. 

WM.  LLOYD  GARRISON,  at  the  age  of  30 Frontispiece. 

From  the  cabinet  oil-paint-  ^  by  M.  C.  Torrey  (1835),  now  in 
the  possession  of  Mr.  Edwaiv  M.  Davis,  Philadelphia.  (See 
Vol.  2,  p.  69.)  John  Sartain's  contemporary  engraving  (pub 
lished  June  4,  1836)  was  readily  recognized  as  a  likeness  by  all 
the  Garrison  infants  in  arms.  George  Thompson  took  to 
England  in  1835  a  replica  of  the  oil-painting, 

BIRTHPLACE  AND  GRAMMAR  SCHOOL to  face  p.  28 

From  photographs. 

WM.  LLOYD  GARRISON,  at  the  age  of  20 to  face  p.  56 

From  the  life-size  oil-painting  by  William  Swain,  a  crude 
"practice"  portrait,  chiefly  valuable  for  its  general  testimony 
as  to  the  hair  and  dress  of  the  subject.  Mr.  Thomas  B.  Law- 
son,  himself  an  artist  and  a  schoolmate  of  Mr.  Garrison's,  who 
remembers  the  execution  of  this  painting,  now  finds  no  resem 
blance  in  it.  He  says  (MS.  May  26,  1885)  :  "  Your  father  was 
in  true  form  — not  out  of  balance  as  in  the  engraving :  his  hair 
a  rich  dark  brown;  his  forehead  high  and  very  white;  his 
cheeks  decidedly  roseate  ;  his  lips  full,  sensitive  and  ruddy , 
his  eyes  intent  —  wide  open,  of  a  yellowish  hazel ;  with  fine 
teeth,  rather  larger  than  the  average  ,  and  a  complexion  more 
fair,  more  silvery  white,  than  I  ever  saw  upon  a  man." 

BENJAMIN  LUNDY to  face  p.  88 

From  Sartain's  mezzotint  engraving,  June,  1838,  after  the 
painting  by  A.  Dickinson.  Another  mezzotint,  by  W.  Warner, 
from  the  same  painting,  accompanies  the  '  Life  of  Lundy.' 

ARTHUR  TAPPAN,  at  about  the  age  of  76 to  face  p.  190 

From  a  photograph  taken  about  1862-63. 

SAMUEL  EDMUND  SEWALL,  at  about  the  age  of  63 ....  to  face  p.  214 
From  a  photograph  taken  about  1862. 


XV111  CONTENTS. 

PAGES 

He  sells  the  paper,  and  returns  to  his  trade  in  Boston, 
where  he  makes  a  caucus  speech  in  favor  of  H.  G.  Otis. 
He  is  made  editor  of  the  National  Philanthropist,  a  total- 
abstinence  paper ;  but  resigns  and  accepts  an  offer  from 
Vermont,  meantime  meeting  with  Benjamin  Lundy. 

CHAPTER  V.— THE  JOURNAL  OF  THE  TIMES  (1828-1829).. 

101-138 

Garrison  edits  this  new  paper  in  Bennington,  Vt.,  in  advo 
cacy  of  the  reelection  of  President  John  Quincy  Adams,  but 
also  begins  in  it  his  first  warfare  on  slavery.  Lundy  visits 
him  and  engages  him  as  associate  editor  of  the  Genius. 
Returning  to  Boston,  Garrison  delivers  an  anti-slavery 
Fourth  of  July  address  at  Park-St.  Church,  with  a  perfunc 
tory  approval  of  Colonization  :  and  then  removes  to 
Baltimore. 

CHAPTER  VI.— THE  GENIUS  OF  UNIVERSAL  EMANCIPATION 

(1829-1830)   139-173 

Garrison  advocates,  on  his  own  responsibility  and  under  his 
own  signature,  the  doctrine  of  Immediate  Emancipation, 
and  causes  a  ruinous  decline  in  the  patronage  of  the  Genius. 
For  denouncing  the  transfer  of  slaves  between  Baltimore 
and  New  Orleans,  in  a  ship  belonging  to  Francis  Todd,  of 
Newburyport,  he  is  indicted  for  libel  by  the  Grand  Jury, 
tried,  convicted,  and  sent  to  jail.  The  partnership  with 
Lundy  ends. 

CHAPTER  VII.— BALTIMORE  JAIL,  AND  AFTER  (1830). .  .174-218 
Ransomed  by  Arthur  Tappan,  Garrison  abandons  Balti 
more,  and  journeys  to  Boston,  lecturing  on  abolition  by  the 
way.  He  issues  a  prospectus  for  an  anti-slavery  journal  to 
be  published  in  Washington,  but  perceives  that  the  North 
first  needs  conversion.  A  lecture  in  Julien  Hall  secures 
him  the  necessary  friends,  and  he  forms  a  partnership  with 
Isaac  Knapp  to  publish  the  Liberator  in  Boston. 

CHAPTER  VIIL— THE  LIBERATOR  (1831) 219-276 

The  doctrine  of  Immediate  Emancipation,  as  urged  in  this 
paper,  excites  the  fears  of  the  South,  especially  after  the 
Nat  Turner  insurrection  in  Virginia,  and  leads  to  public  and 
private  menaces  against  the  life  of  its  editor,  and  to  penal 
enactments  against  taking  the  Liberator.  Appeals  for  its 
suppression  are  made  to  the  city  authorities  of  Boston  ;  the 
extradition  of  Garrison  is  attempted  by  means  of  Southern 
indictments ;  and  finally  the  Legislature  of  Georgia  offers 
$5000  for  his  apprehension. 


CONTENTS.  Xix 

PAGES 

CHAPTER  IX.— ORGANIZATION  :  NEW  ENGLAND  ANTI-SLAVERY 

SOCIETY  —  THOUGHTS  ON  COLONIZATION  (1832).  .277-314 
With  difficulty  an  association  is  formed  in  Boston  on  the 
basis  of  Garrison's  doctrine.  After  a  lecturing  tour  in  New 
England,  he  makes  a  destructive  attack  on  the  American 
Colonization  Society  in  a  pamphlet  called  '  Thoughts  on 
African  Colonization.' 

CHAPTER  X.— PRUDENCE  CRANDALL  (1833) 315-347 

Garrison  advises  this  lady  as  to  opening  a  school  for  colored 
girls  in  Canterbury,  Conn.,  and  his  comments  on  her  conse 
quent  persecution  expose  him  to  fresh  libel  suits.  He  is  sent 
by  the  New  England  A.  S.  Society  on  a  mission  to  England, 
to  collect  funds  for  a  Manual  Labor  School  for  colored 
youth,  and  to  head  off  a  Colonization  agent,  Elliott  Cresson. 
On  passing  through  Connecticut  he  is  pursued  by  the  sheriff 
with  writs,  and  in  New  York  is  also  in  danger  of  kidnapping 
by  Southern  emissaries.  He  escapes  both  perils,  and  em 
barks  for  England  in  May. 

CHAPTER  XL— FIRST  ENGLISH  MISSION  (1833) 348-379 

He  arrives  on  the  eve  of  the  passage  of  the  bill  abolishing 
slavery  in  the  British  West  Indies,  is  cordially  received  by 
the  abolition  leaders,  and  has  interesting  and  affecting 
interviews  with  Buxton,  Wilberforce,  and  Clarkson.  He 
exposes  Elliott  Cresson  and  the  Colonization  scheme  in 
Exeter  Hall  and  elsewhere,  and  secures  a  protest  against 
the  latter  headed  by  Wilberforce,  who  shortly  dies  and  is 
buried  in  Westminster  Abbey.  Garrison  attends  his  fune 
ral,  and  then  sails  for  America  in  August. 

CHAPTER  XII.— AMERICAN  ANTI-SLAVERY  SOCIETY  (1833).. 

380-419 

Garrison  finds  a  mob  prepared  for  him  on  landing  in  New 
York,  and  a  would-be  mob  in  Boston.  Visiting  Canter 
bury,  he  is  served  with  the  delayed  libel  writs,  but  is  never 
brought  to  trial.  In  December  he  effects  the  organization 
at  Philadelphia  of  a  National  Anti-Slavery  Society,  of  which 
he  draws  up  the  Declaration  of  Sentiments. 

CHAPTER  XIII. — MARRIAGE  —  SHALL  THE  LIBERATOR  DIE  ?  — 

GEORGE  THOMPSON  (1834) 420-467 

Garrison  marries  Helen  Eliza  Benson,  of  Brooklyn,  Conn., 
after  the  Liberator  has  Jbeen  barely  saved  from  going  under. 
In  the  same  month,  September,  George  Thompson  arrives 
from  England,  come  at  Garrison's  request  to  aid  the  anti- 
slavery  agitation  in  this  country.  Foreign  interference  is 
resented,  and  he  is  mobbed  in  sundry  parts  of  New  England. 


xx  CONTENTS. 

PAGES 

CHAPTER  XIV.— THE  BOSTON  MOB— FIRST  STAGE  (1835). . 

468-522 

An  American  Union  is  formed  by  orthodox  clergymen  in 
the  vain  hope  to  draw  off  anti-slavery  support  from  Gar 
rison.  Meetings  of  Southerners  in  New  York  and  Rich 
mond,  denouncing  the  abolitionists ;  anti-negro  riots  in 
Philadelphia,  and  supposed  slave-insurrections  in  Missis 
sippi  ;  and  finally  the  rifling  of  the  mails  and  burning  of 
anti-slavery  periodicals  at  Charleston,  with  the  sanction 
of  the  Postmaster-General,  cause  unparalleled  excitement 
throughout  the  country.  The  Mayor  of  Boston  presides  at 
a  town  meeting  called  to  reprobate  the  abolition  movement, 
and  addressed  by  Harrison  Gray  Otis  and  Peleg  Sprague. 
Garrison  leaves  the  city,  but  replies  in  the  Liberator  to  the 
Faneuil  Hall  speeches.  A  double  gallows  for  himself  and 
Thompson  is  erected  before  his  home  in  Boston. 


WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRLSOK 


CHAPTER  I. 
ANCESTRY. — 1764-1805. 

THE  scenic  glories  of  the  River  St.  John,  New  Brims-  CHAP.  i. 
wick,  are  well  past  on  the  ascent  when,  on  the  1764^805. 
right,  the  obscure  outlet  of  the  Jemseg  is  reached.  The 
hills  on  either  shore  have  both  diminished  and  receded ; 
and  thenceforward  the  voyager  sees  only  the  fringe  of 
alder  bushes,  or  willows,  which  hide  on  the  one  hand  the 
level  intervale,  on  the  other  the  level  islands,  until  Burton 
heights  loom  up  on  the  south,  and,  on  the  opposite  bank, 
the  spires  of  Sheffield  and  of  Maugerville.1  Along  this 
lowland  margin  a  feeble  line  of  French  Acadian  settlers 
stretched,  in"  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  from  the 
Jemseg  to  the  Nashwaak.  A  couple  of  hundred  souls 
were  still  clustered  at  the  trading  station  of  St.  Ann's 
(now  Fredericton)  when,  in  the  summer  of  1761,  Israel 
Perley,  of  Boxford,  Essex  County,  Massachusetts,  and  a 
handful  of  companions,  triumphing  over  the  wilderness 
between  Machias  and  the  St.  John,  looked  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Oromocto  down  over  the  gleaming  waters 
and  woody  plains  of  this  romantic  region. 

i  Pronounce  "  Majorville ;  "  and  Jemseg  "  Jimsag." 

VOL.  I.—  1 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKKISON. 


\  I. 

1764-1805. 


Hatheway  s 

Hist.  New 

Brunswick, 

p.  7. 


Ibid.,  p.  10. 


Stickney 

Genealogy, 

p.  166." 


Secretary's 
book,  Land 
Office,  Fred 
eric  ton,  Vol. 

A.,  p.  122. 


Perley  had  been  sent  out  by  the  Governor  of  Massa 
chusetts  (Bernard)  on  an  exploring  expedition.  His 
report  to  his  neighbors  in  praise  of  these  alluvial  prairies 
—  free  of  stone  for  the  ploughshare,  washed  by  waters 
dense  with  fish,  and  skirted  by  timber  abounding  in 
large  game — must  have  produced  a  sort  of  "  Western 
fever  "  among  them.  Many  of  his  listeners  had  no  doubt 
served  in  the  Nova  Scotia  campaigns  against  the  French 
which  culminated  in  the  capture  of  Louisburg  in  1758, 
followed  by  that  of  Quebec  in  1759,  and  the  British 
occupation  of  the  St.  John  as  far  as  the  Nashwaak ;  and 
were  already  aware  of  the  natural  advantages  of  the 
territory. 

The  first  Essex  County  migration  to  Nova  Scotia  (as 
New  Brunswick  was  then  called)  took  place  in  the  spring 
of  1763  in  a  packet  sloop  of  forty  tons  burthen,  com 
manded  by  Captain  Newman.  The  following  spring 
brought  a  reinforcement  of  colonists  in  the  sloop  com 
manded  by  Captain  Howe,  which  "  became  an  annual 
trader  to  the  River,  and  the  only  means  of  communica 
tion  between  the  Pilgrims  and  their  native  land."  The 
arrival  was  most  timely,  for  an  early  frost  had  blighted 
the  crop  of  the  previous  year,  and  reduced  the  first- 
comers  almost  to  actual  want.  The  settlement  now 
embraced  families,  more  or  less  connected  with  each 
other,  from  Rowley,  Boxford,  Byfield,  Ipswich,  Marble- 
head,  and  adjacent  towns,  among  whom  the  Perleys, 
Stickneys,  Palmers,  Burpees,  Barkers,  Esteys,  Hartts, 
and  Peabodys  were  prominent  in  numbers  or  in  influ 
ence. 

On  October  31,  1765,  the  district  having  been  officially 
surveyed  by  Charles  Morris,  sixty-five  heads  of  families, 
resident  or  represented,  were  granted  Tract  No.  109,  in 
Sunbury  County.  This  tract,  in  the  parish  of  Mauger- 
ville  and  Sheffield,  known  as  the  Maugerville  Grant,  and 
twelve  miles  square,  extended  from  the  head  of  Oromocto 
Island  to  the  foot  of  Mauger's  Island,  and  had  been 
partially  cleared  by  the  Acadians.  The  twenty-second 


ANCESTRY. 


3 


name  on  the  list  of  grantees,  for  five  hundred  acres,  was 
that  of  Joseph  Garrison ; l  the  twenty-fourth,  that  of  his 
father-in-law,  Daniel  Palmer.  The  latter's  portion  con 
sisted  of  two  lots  forty  rods  long  upon  the  river,  and 
some  six  miles  (five  hundred  and  fifty  chains)  in  depth 
across  the  intervale  towards  Grand  Lake.  The  western 
boundary  of  its  frontage  was  just  opposite  the  lower  end 
of  Middle  Island  ;  the  river  here  being  from  one-third  to 
half  a  mile  in  width. 

Daniel  Palmer  was  great-grandson  of  Sergeant  John 
Palmer  (who,  as  a  youth  of  seventeen,  is  reported  to  have 
come  to  Rowley  in  1639)  by  a  second  wife,  Margaret 
Northend.  On  the  side  of  his  mother,  Mary  Stickney,  he 
was  great-grandson  of  William  Stickney,  the  founder  of 
that  family  in  this  country,  and  of  Captain  Samuel 
Brocklebank,  who  was  slain,  with  nearly  all  his  com 
mand,  by  the  Indians  at  Sudbury,  in  King  Philip's  War. 
Born  at  Rowley,  in  1712,  Daniel  Palmer  married  in  1736 
Elizabeth  Wheeler,  of  Chebacco  (a  part  of  Ipswich,  called 
Essex  since  1819),  with  whom,  eight  years  later,  he  was 
dismissed  from  the  First  Church  in  Rowley  to  that  of 
Gloucester  ;  but  of  his  stay  in  the  latter  place,  if,  indeed, 
he  removed  thither,  we  have  no  record.  He  is  yet  re 
membered  by  close  tradition  as  "  a  powerful  man,  of  great 
muscular  strength.  Before  he  left  for  the  East  the 
Indians  were  troublesome,  and  there  were  three  secreted 
in  a  house  in  Old  Town,  and  no  one  dared  pursue  them. 
But  he  was  fearless,  and  entered  the  house,  where  he 
opened  a  chamber  window,  and  one  by  one  he  threw  them 
out,  regardless  of  life  or  limb,  as  though  they  were  so 
many  straws."  Six  children  survived  t6  him,  and  the  two 
oldest  girls,  Elizabeth  and  Ruth,  were  married,  when 
removal  to  the  St.  John  was  determined  on.  Leaving 
these  behind,  he  took  with  him  his  third  daughter,  Mary 
(born  January  19,  1741,  in  Byfield),  and  his  three  sons, 

l  The  twenty-ninth  name  on  a  list  compiled  by  Hatheway,  in  1846  ('  His 
tory  of  New  Brunswick,'  p.  8),  is  "  Galishan,  —  — ,"  which  clearly  stands 
for  Joseph  Garrison.  (Compare  this  writer's  spelling  of  Marasheet,  "  Meli- 
cete,"  on  p.  5.) 


CHAP.  I. 

1764-1805. 


Hatheway 's 
Hist.  Nnv 
Brunswick, 
pp.  10,  II. 


April  21, 
1676. 


MS.  Lydia 

Silloway, 
great-grand 
daughter  of 
D.  Palmer. 


WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON. 


CHAP.  I. 
1764-1805. 


Essex  Insti 
tute  Hist. 
Collections, 
14 : 152- 


i :  464. 


February, 

1783- 


Johnston's 
Report  on 
Agr.  Capabi 
lities  of  New 
Brunswick, 
p.  41. 


Daniel,  Nathan,  and  Abijah,  and  joined  the  company  of 
townsfolk  and  kinsmen  who  were  to  plant  a  Puritan  set 
tlement  on  the  banks  of  the  St.  John. 

There  is  no  evidence  that  Joseph  Garrison  was  of  this 
number.  All  that  can  now  be  learned  about  him  war 
rants  the  belief  that  he  was  an  Englishman,  who  was 
found  upon  the  spot  by  the  second,  if  not  already  by  the 
first,  immigrants  from  Rowley.  We  know  positively 
that  on  his  thirtieth  birthday,  August  14,  1764,  he  was 
married  to  Daniel  Palmer's  daughter  Mary,  perhaps  in 
that  church  which  "  Richard  Eastick  [Estey]  and  Ruth 
his  wife,  Jonathan  Smith  and  Hannah  his  wife,"  were 
dismissed  from,  the  First  Church  in  Rowley,  to  form 
"  upon  or  near  St.  John's  River,  Nova  Scotia,"  May  20, 
1764.  Sabine,  who,  with  doubtful  propriety,  includes 
Joseph  Garrison  in  his  '  Loyalists  of  the  American  Revo 
lution,'  styles  him  "of  Massachusetts";  but  the  name 
has  not  been  met  with  in  that  State  before  the  present 
century  by  the  most  diligent  searchers  of  her  archives. 
His  comparatively  early  death  will  account  for  the  diver 
sity  of  traditions  in  regard  to  him  among  his  own 
descendants,  the  most  trustworthy  of  which  is,  that  he 
was  not  a  native  of  the  colonies  but  of  the  mother 
country.  The  location  of  his  grant  is  unrecorded,  but 
traditionally  was  higher  up  the  river  than  his  father-in- 
law's.  .Sabine,  again,  says  he  was  remembered  in  New 
Brunswick  "  as  a  skilful  miner,  and  as  the  discoverer  of 
the  *  Grand  Lake  Coal  Mines,'  which  of  late  years  have 
been  extensively  worked."  Grand  Lake  is  the  lowest 
part  of  the  broad  basin  extending  from  Fredericton  to 
the  hills  beyond  the  Jemseg,  which  at  every  spring 
freshet  is  covered  by  the  swollen  waters  of  the  St. 
John.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  its  shores  were  curiously 
visited  by  Joseph  Garrison,  and  that  he  was  the  first 
to  notice  its  very  obvious  superficial  bituminous  coal 
deposits.  But  the  mining  there,  as  late  as  1850,  was 
carried  on  "in  a  small  and  rude  manner,"  and  as  late 
as  1830  only  "  by  strippings  or  open  diggings  " ;  so  that 


ANCESTRY.  5 

skill  could  hardly  be  ascribed  to  him  where  so  little  was     CHAP.  I. 
required.  1764^805. 

Joseph  Garrison's  occupation  was  that  of  a  farmer, 
which  then,  as  now,  must  have  been  one  of  comparative 
ease,  because  of  the  exceptional  facility  for  growing  hay    Johnston's 
and  raising   stock,    and   not   conducive   to   progressive  Agr°Capabi- 
agriculture.      Life  was  fairly  amphibious :    fences  had  li£*su°{^™ 
(as  they  still  have)  to  be  taken  down  and  corralled  in  the       /•  8. 
fall,  to  prevent  their  being  floated  off  in  the  spring ;  and 
when  at  last  the  gentle  flood  covered  the  intervale  as  far 
as  the  eye  (even  looking  from  Burton  heights)   could 
reach,  the  farmer  turned  navigator  over  his  own  domain. 
Lucky  if  the  main  river-road  emerged,  and  his  house  and 
barn  were  uninvaded  by  the  tide,  he  was  yet  tranquil  in 
the  assurance  that  where  he  now  drew  up  his  herring,  he      Gesner's 
should  by  and  by  view  with   satisfaction  his  crops  of    Brunswick, 
grain    and    potatoes.      D.aniel   Palmer,   we   know,   had       *' 82- 
pitched  his  log  cabin  too  near  the  brink,  and  was  made 
aware  of  the  fact,  in  an  extraordinary  rise,  by  a  huge 
cake  of  ice  sailing  through  from  door  to  door,  and  carry 
ing  off  not  only  half  the  house,  but  the  day's  dinner  of 
boiling  meat  in  the  pot,  and  the  table   gear,   happily 
recovered  after  drifting  against  a  stump..1 

One  other  incident  of  these  early  days  of  the  settle 
ment  has  a  more  immediate  interest.  Five  children 
had  been  born  to  Joseph  and  Mary  Garrison,  the  young 
est,  Abijah,  being  an  infant  in  arms  —  say,  in  the  spring 
of  1774.  The  mother  had  started  in  a  boat  down  the 
river  to  pay  her  father  a  visit,  taking  her  babe  with  her, 
and  a  lad  who  lived  with  the  family  : 

"  The  river  was  clear  of  ice  when  she  started,  and  she  appre-  MS.  Eliza 

hended  no  danger.     Long  before  she  got  to  her  journey's  end  (M^Eben- 

the  ice  broke  further  up  the  river,  and  came  down  with  such  ezer  Little), 

force  against  her  boat  as  to  break  it  badly,  and  'compel  her  to  daughter  of 

exchange  it  for  an  ice-cake,  which  was  driven  ashore  by  a  D.  Palmer. 
larger  piece  of  ice.     Like  a  mother,  she  wrapped  her  babe  in 
all  the  clothes  she  could  spare,  and  threw  him  into  the  snow  on 

1  This  is  thought  to  have  occurred  in  the  spring  of  1778. 


6 


WILLIAM  LLOYD    GAKRISON. 


CHAP.  I.  the  shore.  By  the  aid  of  a  willow  limb  which  overhung  the 
1764.^1805  river,  sne  an(i  the  la(l  saved  themselves.  She  took  up  her  babe 
unharmed.  As  she  was  wandering  in  the  woods,  without  guide 
or  path,  she  saw  the  smoke  from  an  Indian  hut,  and  on  going 
to  it  found  there  an  Indian 1  who  knew  her  father.  He  enter 
tained  her  with  his  best  words  and  deeds,  and  the  next  morning 
conducted  her  safely  to  her  father's." 

This  babe  was  the  father  of  William  Lloyd  Garrison. 
It  was  not  quite  three  years  old  when  the  progress  of 
revolt  in  the  colonies  had  infected  the  New  England 
settlers  on  the  St.  John,  and  impelled  them  to  a  mani 
festo  antedating  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
imbued  with  the  same  spirit,  "  and,  considering  their 
insulated  locality,  and  the  vicinity  to  the  old  and  well- 
Nwa  Scotia  ^or^ne(i  towns  in  possession  of  an  English  army  and 
/• 62-  navy,  .  .  .  remarkably  bold." 


Ibid.,  p.  62; 
Mass.  Ar 
chives, 
144 : 153. 
158. 


ACTION     OF    THE    PEOPLE    ON    THE    ST.   JOHN    BfVEE. 

Whereas  the  inhabitants  on  the  River  St.  Johns  in  the  County 
of  Sunbury  and  province  of  Nova  Scotia  being  regularly 
assembled  at  Maugervile  in  said  County  on  the  14th  Day  of 
May  1776  did  then  and  there  make  Choice  of  us,  Jacob  Barker, 
Phin's  Nevers,  Israel  Perley,  Daniel  Palmer,  Moses  Pickard, 
Edward  Coye,  Tho's  Hartt,  Israel  Kinney,  Asa  Kimball,  Asa 
Perley  and  Hugh  Quinton  a  Committee  in  behalf  of  the  Inhab 
itants  of  said  County,  to  make  Immediate  application  to  the 
Congress  or  Gen'll  Assembly  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  for 
Relief  under  their  present  Distressed  Circumstances. 

Now  Know  ye  that  we  the  Committee  above  named  have  by 
these  presents  Constituted  and  appointed  two  of  said  Com 
mittee  (viz)  Messrs.  Asa  Perley  and  Asa  Kimball  to  act  as 
agents  for  the  body  of  said  Committee  to  go  personally  to  the 
said  Congress  or  Gen'll  Assembly  and  there  present  our  Petition, 
also  to  act  and  transact,  Determine  accomplish  and  finish  all 
Matters  touching  the  premises  as  effectually  as  the  body  of  said 
Committee  might  do,  and  we  in  behalf  of  the  inhabitants  of 

l  The  St.  John  tribe  was  known  as  the  Marasheets.  These  Indians  had 
proved  troublesome  neighbors  in  the  early  days  of  the  settlement.  (Hathe- 
way's  '  Hist.  New  Brunswick,'  p.  11.) 


ANCESTKY.  < 

said  county  ratify  and  confirm  whatsoever  our  said  agents  shall     CHAP.  I. 
cause  to  be  done  in  this  matter.  ~ 

Names  signed,  May  20,  1776. 

All  officers,  civil  or  military,  in  the  united  provinces,  and  all 
others  are  desired  not  to  molest  or  hinder  the  within  Asa 
Perley  and  Asa  Kimball  in  their  progress,  on  the  Contrary  to 
Encourage  and  Assist  them,  as  they  would  merit  the  Esteem  of 
all  Lovers  of  their  Country's  Liberty  and  the  thanks  of  this 
Committee. 

The  Inhabitants  of  the  County  of  Sunbury  in  the  province  of 
Nova  Scotia  being  regularly  assembled  at  the  Meeting  house 
in  Maugervile  in  said  County  on  Tuesday  the  14  day  of  May 
1776  to  Consult  on  some  measures  necessary  to  be  taken  for 
the  safety  of  the  Inhabitants. 

1.  Chose  Jacob  Barker  Esq'r  Chairman. 

2.  Chose  Jacob  Barker,  Israel  Perley,  Phin's  Nevers,  Esq'rs 
and  Messrs.  Daniel  Palmer,  Moses   Pickard,   Edward   Cove, 
Tho's  Hartt,  Israel  Kenney,  Asa  Kimball,  Asa  Perley,  Oliver 
Perley,  and  Hugh  Quinton  a  Committee  to  prepare  a  Draught 
prope?  for  the  Proceedings  of  the  Assembly.    The  meeting  then 
adjourned  till  three  of  the  clock  in  the  afternoon. 

Being  again  met  the  Committee  Reported  the  following 
Resolves,  which  were  read  and  after  a  second  Reading  the 
Resolves  were  passed  in  the  affirmative,  unanimously. 

1.  Resolved.    That  we  can  see  no  shadow  of  Justice  in  that 
Extensive  Claim  of  the  British  Parliament  (viz)  the  Right  of 
Enacting  Laws  binding  on  the  Colonies  in  all  Cases  whatso 
ever.     This  System  if  once  Established  (we  Conceive)  hath  a 
Direct  tendency  to  Sap  the  foundation,  not  only  of  Liberty  that 
Dearest  of  names,  but  of  property  that  best  of  subjects. 

2.  Resolved.  That  as  tyranny  ought  to  be  Resisted  in  its  first 
appearance  we  are  Convinced  that  the  united  Provinces  are 
just  in  their  proceeding  in  this  Regard. 

3.  Resolved.  That  it  is  our  Minds  and  Desire  to  submit  our 
selves  to  the  government  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  and  that 
we  are  Ready  with  our  Lives  and  fortunes  to  Share  with  them 
the  Event  of  the  present  Struggle  for  Liberty,  however  God  in 
his  Providence  may  order  it. 

4.  Resolved.  That  a  Committee  be  Chosen  to  Consist  of  twelve 
Men  who  shall  Immediately  make  application  to  the  Massa 
chusetts  Congress  or  general  assembly  for   Relief,  and  that 
said   Committee   or  the  Major  part  of   them    shall   Conduct 


8  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GAEEISON. 

CHAP.  i.     all  Matter  Civill  or  Military  in  this  County  till  further  Regu- 

1764^805.     lations  be  made. 

5.  Resolved.  That  we  and  Each  of  us  will  most  strictly  ad 
here  to  all  such  measures  as  our  said  Committee  or  the  Major 
Part  of  them  shall  from  time  to  time  prescribe  for  our  Conduct 
and  that  we  will  support  and  Defend  them  in  this  Matter  at  the 
Expence  of  our  Lives  and  fortunes  if  Called  thereto. 

6.  Eesolved.  That  we  will  Immediately  put  ourselves  in  the 
best  posture  of  Defence  in  our  power,  that  to  this  End  we  will 
prevent  all  unnecessary  use  of  gun  Powder  or  other  ammunition 
in  our  Custody. 

7.  Resolved.  That  if  any  of  us  shall  hereafter,  Know  of  any 
person  or  persons  that  shall  by  any  ways  or  means  Endeavour 
to  prevent  or  Counteract  this  our  Design,  we  will  Immediately 
give  notice  thereof  to  the  Committee  that  proper  Measures  may 
be  taken  for  our  Safety. 

8.  Resolved.  That  we  and  Each  of  us  will  Pay  our  proportion 
of  all  such  sums  of  Money  as  may  be  Necessary  for  Carrying 
these  matters  into  Execution,  and  finally,  that  we  will  share  in 
and  submit  to  the  Event  of  this  undertaking  however  it  may 
terminate,  to  the  true  performance  of  all  which  we  bind  and 
obligate   ourselves  firmly  each  to  other  on  penalty  of  being 
Esteemed  Enemies  and  traitors  to  our  Country  and  Submitting 
ourselves  to  popular  Resentment. 

The  whole  assembly  subscribed  to  the  foregoing  Resolves. 

The  Body  then  Voted. 

1.  That  the  above  named  Committee  shall  be  a  standing 
Committee  to  make  application  to  the  Massachusetts  Con 
gress. 

Also  to  Conduct  all  Matters  Civil  or  Military  in  the  County 
till  further  Regulations  be  made. 

Voted  that  we  will  have  no  Dealings  or  Connections  with  any 
Person  or  Persons  for  the  future  that  shall  Refuse  to  Enter 
into  the  foregoing  or  similar  Resolutions. 

A  true  Copy  from  the  Minutes. 

ISRAEL  PERLEY  Cleric. 

Dated  at  Maugervile  on  the  River 
St.  Johns  May  the  21, 1776. 


ANCESTKY. 

Memorandum  —  ~by  desire  of  the  Committee.  CHAP.  i. 

1764-1805. 

Represent  the  Conduct  of  the  Indians  that  Gen'll  Wash 
ington's  Letter l  set  them  on  fire,  and  they  are  Plundering  all 
People  they  think  are  torys  and  perhaps  when  that  is  Done,  the 
others  may  share  the  same  fate.  We  think  it  necessary  that 
some  person  of  Consequence  be  sent  among  them. 

If  it  be  asked  what  Lands  are  granted  on  the  River,  it  may-, 
be  answered  —  there  is  four  towns  and  a  half  granted  to  68 
gentlemen  mostly  officers  in  the   armys.     The   towns  are  a 
hundred  thousand  acres  each. 

There  is  several  other  Large  tracts  of  Land  granted  to  par 
ticular  gentlemen. 

These  townships  and  other  Lands  have  but  few  settlers  on 
them. 

If  it  be  asked  what  proportion  of  the  People  signed  the  Reso 
lutions  it  may  be  answered,  There  is  125  signed  and  about  12 
or  13  that  have  not,  9  of  whom  are  at  the  Rivers  Mouth. 

The  names  of  the  Loyalists  "  at  the  River's  mouth  "  are 
well  known,  but  the  record  is  silent  as  to  the  three  or 
four  residents  of  Maugerville  who  refused  to  subscribe 
to  the  resolves  and  the  appeal  for  relief.  It  may  be  con 
jectured,  however,  that  Joseph  Garrison  was  one  of  these, 
having  as  his  first  motive  his  English  birth,  and  the  want 
of  those  New  England  connections  which  might  else  have 
made  liberty  to  him  also  "  that  dearest  of  names  "  ;  and 
perhaps  as  his  second,  his  better  sense  of  the  hopeless 
ness  of  such  an  unsupported  outpost  maintaining  itself 
against  the  authority  of  the  mother  country.  Mr.  Sabine 
found  Joseph's  descendants  admitting  his  loyalty,  and 
we  may  suppose  him  to  have  been  temporarily  ostra 
cized,  according  to  the  terms  of  the  vote,  on  account  of 
his  standing  aloof  from  the  almost  unanimous  action  of 
his  neighbors.  At  all  events,  it  required  no  little  inde 
pendence  of  character  to  incur  the  "  popular  resentment  "5 
and  this  trait  may  as  well  have  been  inherited  by  his 

1  Of  February,  1776.  See  the  reference  to  it  in  Washington's  subsequent 
letter,  Dec.  24,  on  p.  59  of  Kidder's  'Maine  and  Nova  Scotia.'  See,  also,  for 
the  state  of  mind  of  the  Indians,  ibid.,  pp.  165-179,  seq.,  310,  etc. 


10  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON. 

CHAP.  i.  grandson  as  the  spirit  of  the  declaration  of  resistance 
1764^1805.  to  tyranny  which  Daniel  Palmer  subscribed. 

His  isolation,  however,  except  in  public  sentiment, 
lasted  hardly  more  than  a  year.  Despite  the  good- will 
and  assistance  of  Massachusetts,  before  a  project  of  for 
tifying  the  mouth  of  the  St.  John  could  be  carried  out,  in 
May,  1777,  the  British  sloop  Vulture,  fourteen  guns,  from 
.Halifax  (a  vessel  afterward  famous  for  having  been  the 
refuge  of  Benedict  Arnold  on  the  discovery  of  his 
treason),  sailed  up  the  river  with  troops,  and,  as  was 
reported  in  Machias  on  the  29th,  compelled  the  settlers 
P- 86-  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  his  British  Majesty. 
Many  were  robbed  of  their  all ;  some  were  carried  away. 
A  vain  attempt  to  reverse  this  was  made  by  a  Massa 
chusetts  expedition  in  the  following  month.  Boston  was 
too  far  away,  Halifax  was  too  near.  Submission  was 
unavoidable  ;  but  time  never  reconciled  all  of  the  inhab 
itants  to  the  separation  from  their  kindred  in  the  old 
Massachusetts  home,  and  their  regrets  have  been  handed 
down  to  their  posterity.  Shut  off  from  further  increase 
by  immigration  from  the  original  hive,  they  could  only 
perpetuate  their  numbers  by  intermarriage;  and  the 
tourist  on  the  St.  John  to-day  finds  in  Sunbury  County 
not  only  familiar  New  England  names,  but  perhaps  as 
unmixed  a  Puritan  stock  as  exists  on  the  continent. 

Of  Joseph  Garrison,  except  that  he  died  at  Jemseg  in 
February,  1783,  we  know  nothing  more  that  is  eventful. 
He  passed  for  a  disappointed  man.  His  physical  charac 
teristics,  as  determinable  from  his  posterity,  may  be  set 
down  as  follows :  a  long  chin  and  a  large  bump  of  firm 
ness  (phrenologically  speaking),  with  a  great  length 
between ;  black  hair,  with  early  baldness.  Probably  to 
him,  too,  rather  than  to  the  Palmers  is  to  be  attributed  an 
hereditary  tendency  to  congenital  lameness,  which  has 
shown  itself  in  three  generations, — though  never  in  a 
straight  line,  and  always  (it  is  believed)  in  the  male 
children, —  and  two  instances  of  a  prominent  facial  birth 
mark  in  a  son  and  grandson  of  Joseph  and  Mary  Palmer 


ANCESTRY.  11 

Garrison.  Mentally,  besides  the  strong-mindedness  al-  CHAP.  i. 
ready  indicated,  there  is  no  salient  feature  to  distinguish  17 
the  founder  of  the  line.  His  children,  in  a  settlement 
deprived  of  every  literary  and  social  advantage,  proved 
exceptionally  intelligent.  They  educated  themselves 
with  the  slenderest  facilities;  learned  the  art  of  navi 
gation  $  became  teachers.  "  They  did  not  accumulate 
much/'  says  the  local  tradition,  "but  they  always  left 
friends  behind  them."  A  fondness  for  music,  and  natu 
ral  aptitude  for  giving  instruction  in  it,  have  also  been 
manifested  in  Joseph's  posterity,  among  whom  it  has 
been  handed  down  that  he  used  to  play  the  fiddle. 
Domestically,  it  may  be  inferred  that  Joseph  Garrison 
was  uxorious,  since  at  least  five  of  his  children  were 
named  for  his  wife's  relatives. 

The  Palmer  type  was  also  well  supplied  with  firmness  5 
had  high  cheek-bones,  fair  skin  and  hair ;  was  of  a  quiz 
zical  and  jocose  temperament.1  Religiously,  the  Palmers 
were  affiliated  with  the  Baptists,  and  Mary  Palmer  Gar 
rison  is  said  to  have  been  the  only  person  of  that  de 
nomination  on  the  Jemseg  when  she  came  there.  (She 
joined  the  church  in  Byfield  before  the  removal,  October 
10,  1762.)  She  long  survived  her  husband,  dying  on 
February  14,  1822.  On  the  30th  of  January,  1787, 'she 
was  granted  eighty  acres  of  land  (Lot  No.  6,  Second 
Division)  on  the  River  St.  John,  opposite  the  Jemseg,  in 
Queen's  County.  Later,  her  home  was  on  the  Jemseg 
with  her  son  Silas,  who  cultivated  the  farm  now  shown 
as  the  Garrison  homestead.  At  the  time  of  her  death 

1  Prom  this  side  of  the  house  were  probably  derived  the  characteristics  of 
the  Garrison-Palmer  offspring  indicated  in  the  following  extract  of  a 
letter  from  William  Garrison  (the  son  of  Joseph)  to  his  nephew  Andrew 
(Jan.  31,  1831):  "I  think  it  a  family  trait  that  we  are  apt  to  be  too 
sanguine  and  enthusiastic  in  many  of  our  pursuits,  which  may  cast  a  mist 
prejudicial  to  our  true  interests.  .  .  .  That  would-be  witty  Devil  has 
more  than  once  proved  injurious  to  our  family."  It  should  be  further 
noted  that  the  Palmers  were  full-lived.  Sergeant  John  lived  to  be  72; 
his  son  Francis  to  be  76;  Ms  son  John  to  be  74;  his  son  Daniel  to  be 
65  at  least.  William  Lloyd  Garrison  died  in  his  74th  year,  far  surpassing 
his  father  and  paternal  grandfather. 


12  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GABKISON. 

CHAP.  i.  she  had  been  for  many  years  the  widow  of  Robert 
1764^1805.  Angus.1  She  is  remembered  late  in  life  as  a  jolly  sort  of 
person — portly,  with  round  face  and  fair  hair,  of  a  san 
guine  temperament,  and  a  great  favorite  with  children, 
whom  she  amused  with  quaint  stories.2  From  her  there 
ran  in  the  veins  of  her  offspring  the  emigrant  Puritan 
blood  of  Palmer,  Northend,  Hunt,  Redding,  Stickney, 
Brocklebank,  Wheeler,  and  other  (unnamable)  stirpes. 

By  her,  Joseph  Garrison  became  the  father  of  nine 
children,  viz.,  Hannah  (1765-1843),3  Elizabeth  (1767- 
1815),  Joseph  (1769-1819),  Daniel  (1771-1803),  Abijah 
(born  1773),  Sarah  (born  1776),  Nathan  (1778-1817), 
Silas  (1780-1849),  William  (a  posthumous  child,  1783- 
1837).  The  fifth  in  order,  Abijah,  must  occupy  our 
attention,  to  the  exclusion  of  his  brothers  and  sisters. 
The  exact  date  of  his  birth  was  June  18,  1773,  and  the 
place  Jemseg.  He  was  named  for  his  uncle  Palmer. 
Ante,  p.  5.  Except  the  romantic  incident  of  his  babyhood,  already 
related,  his  early  history  is  a  blank.  He  alone  of  the 
family  followed  the  sea.  He  became  eventually  a  cap 
tain,  and  made  many  voyages,  with  his  cousin  Abijah 
Palmer  as  mate.  His  hour-glass,  sole  personal  souve 
nir,  is  still  preserved,  with  his  rudely- cut  initials.  He 
was  tall,  but  well-proportioned,  of  fine  and  even  hand 
some  appearance,  in  spite  of  an  extraordinary  birth-mark 
("like  raw  beef,"  "sometimes  as  red  as  blood")  extend 
ing  from  ear  to  ear  and  under  the  chin,  like  a  muffler. 
He  had  the  light  hair  and  fair  skin  of  the  Palmers.  He 

1  He  died  in  the  latter  half  of  the  year  1805. 

2  As  a  means  of  supporting  herself  and  family  after  Joseph  Garrison's 
death,  she  appears  to  have  practised  the  art  of  a  midwife  for  more  than 
thirty  years —  "by  night  and  by  day,  for  they  will  have  her  out "  (MS.  Sept. 
16,  1815,  Sarah  Perley). 

3  In  the  church  records  of  the  parish  of  Byfleld,  Newbury,  Mass.,  this 
entry  is  found  among  the  baptisms :  "  Hannah,  Daut'r  of  Joseph  Garrison 
of  St.  John's  River  in  Nova  Scotia  but  his  wife  a  member  of  yu  Chh  here 
with  her  Child  June  15,  1766."    The  last  sentence,  if  punctuated  thus,  as  it 
doubtless  should  be — "but  his  wife,  a  member  of  the  church,  here  with 
her  child  " —  is  evidence  of  a  visit  of  Mary  Garrison  to  her  old  home  at  the 
date  mentioned. 


ANCESTKY.  13 

is  remembered  by  one  of  his  contemporaries  as  a  "  smart     CHAP.  i. 
man,  bright  at  most  everything,"  and  as   an   excellent    1764^805. 
penman.     Moreover,  he  possessed  a  keen  sense  of  the 
ludicrous,  which  often  displayed  itself — with  the  free 
dom  of  the  time  —  in  his  versifying.1     His  son,  William 
Lloyd,  who   had  no  personal  recollection  of  him,  thus 
summed  up  the  traditions  in  regard  to  Abijah  G-arrison  : 

"I  was  probably  not  more  than  three  years  old  when  he  MS. 
took  his  final  leave  of  my  mother.  I  remember  vaguely  to 
have  been  told  that  he  had  a  fine  physical  development,  a  san 
guine  temperament,  a  bald  head,  and  a  reddish  beard,  with  a 
very  noticeable  scar  on  his  face,  a  birth-mark ;  that  he  was 
very  genial  and  social  in  his  manners,  kind  and  affectionate  in 
Iris  disposition,  and  ever  ready  to  assist  the  suffering  and 
needy  j  that  he  had  a  good  theoretical  and  practical  knowledge 
of  navigation,  and  as  a  master  of  a  vessel  made  many  voyages 
coastwise  and  to  the  West  Indies ;  and  that  he  had  a  strong 
taste  for  reading,  and  evinced  some  literary  talent.  There  is 
no  doubt  that  his  love  for  my  mother  was  almost  romantic; 
and  it  is  questionable,  when  he  deserted  her,  if  he  meant  the 
separation  to  be  final." 

Romantic  love  had  a  romantic  beginning.  By  some 
chance  of  coast  navigation  Abijah  found  himself  on 
Deer  Island,  N.  B.,  in  Passamaquoddy  Bay  (waters 
called  Quoddy,  for  short).  Here,  at  a  religious  evening 
meeting,  his  eye  fell  upon  a  strikingly  beautiful  young 
woman,  dressed  in  a  blue  habit  ;  or,  more  than  likely, 
the  previous  sight  of  her  was  the  cause1  of  that  evening's 
piety.  At  the  close  of  the  services  he  followed  her  to  the 
door,  and  boldly  asked  leave  to  accompany  her  home, 
accosting  her,  for  want  of  her  real  name,  as  "  Miss  Blue 
Jacket."  Her  reply  was  a  rebuff.  Nevertheless,  Abijah 
lost  no  time  in  sending  her  a  letter,  which,  it  is  safe  to 
say,  surpassed  in  literary  graces  any  she  had  ever  re- 

iMary  Howitt,  in  her  "Memoir  of  William  Lloyd  Garrison,"  in  the 
People's  Journal  of  Sept.  12,  1846,  sayf  the  father  was  a  "fine  poet,"  which 
is  certainly  going  beyond  the  record,  as  there  are  no  remains  whatever  of 
his  muse.  See  hereafter  (p.  24)  the  last  letter  before  his  disappearance, 
in  which  the  "sentimental  piece"  he  promises  to  write  is  doubtless  to  be 
interpreted  as  verse. 


14 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKEISON. 


CfcAP.    I. 

1764-1805. 


Peoples 

Journal, 
(Eng.) 

Sept.  12, 
1846,  p. 141; 
Penn.  Free 
man,  Mar. 

25,  1847. 


ceived,  and  her  reply  confirmed  an  acquaintance  which 
ended  infallibly  in  matrimony. 

Frances  Maria  Lloyd  was  the  daughter — one  of  a 
large  family  of  children  —  of  Andrew  Lloyd,  a  native  of 
Kinsale,  County  Munster,  Ireland  (about  1752).  He 
came  out  to  the  province  of  Nova  Scotia  in  1771,  as  a 
'prentice,  bound  to  the  captain  (Plato  Dana)  of  the  ship 
which  also  brought  over  John  Lawless,  an  Englishman, 
who  had  been  a  sergeant  under  Wolfe  at  Quebec ;  his  wife, 
Catharine,  said  to  have  been  a  native  of  Limerick,  Ire 
land;  and  their  only  daughter  Mary,  who  was  certainly 
born  there.  The  'prentice  is  believed  to  have  improved 
his  time  so  well  on  the  voyage  that,  young  as  they  both 
were,  he  married  Mary  Lawless  on  March  30,  1771,  the 
day  after  they  had  landed  on  the  island  of  Campobello. 
Andrew  became  a  so-called  branch  (i.  e.,  commissioned) 
pilot,  at  Quoddy,  and  died  suddenly  in  the  service  in  the 
year  1813.  His  wife,  whom  he  survived,  though  not  long, 
was  reputed  the  first  person  buried  on  Deer  Island ;  and 
on  this  unfertile  but  picturesque  and  fascinating  spot 
Fanny  Lloyd  was  born  in  1776,  and  became  the  belle  of 
the  family. 

"  She  was  of  a  tall,  majestic  figure,  singularly  graceful  in 
deportment  and  carriage ;  her  features  were  fine,  and  expressive 
of  a  high  intellectual  character  5  and  her  hair  so  luxuriant  and 
rich  that,  when  she  unbound  it,  like  that  'of  Godiva  of  old,  it 
fell  around  her  like  a  veil.  The  outward  being,  however,  was 
but  a  faint  image  of  the  angelic  nature  within  ;  she  was  one  of 
those  who  inspire  at  once  love  and  reverence  5  she  took  high 
views  of  lif e  and  its  duties ;  and,  consequently,  when  adversity 
came  upon  her  as  an  armed  man,  she  was  not  overcome.  Life 
had  lost  its  sunshine,  but  not  its  worth  j  and,  for  her  own  and 
her  children's  sake,  she  combated  nobly  with  poverty  and  sor 
row.  Her  influence  on  her  children,  more  especially  on  her  son 
William,  was  very  great :  he  venerated  her  while  yet  a  child ; 
not  a  word  or  a  precept  of  hers  was  ever  lost  —  his  young- 
heart  treasured  up  all,  unknowing  that  these  in  after  life 
should  become  his  great  principles  of  action. 

"To  illustrate  the  conscious  [conscientious  ?]  and  firm 
character  of  this  admirable  woman,  we  must  be  permitted  to 


ANCESTRY.  15 

give  an  anecdote  of  her  whilst  yet  young.  Her  parents  were  of  CHAP.  I. 
the  Episcopal  Church,  and  among  the  most  bigoted  of  that  i  6  ~l8o* 
body.  In  those  days  the  Baptists  were  a  despised  people,  and 
it  was  reckoned  vulgar  to  be  of  their  community.  One  day, 
however,  it  was  made  known  through  the  neighborhood  where 
she  lived  that  one  of  these  despised  sectaries l  would  preach  in 
a  barn,  and  a  party  of  gay  young  people,  one  of  whom  was  the 
lovely  and  gay  Fanny  Lloyd,  agreed  for  a  frolic  to  go  and  hear 
him.  Of  those  who  went  to  scoff  one  remained  to  pray ;  this 
was  Fanny  Lloyd.  Her  soul  was  deeply  touched  by  the  meek 
and  holy  spirit  of  the  preacher  j  she  wept  much  during  the 
sermon,  and  when  it  was  over,  the  preacher  spake  kindly  to 
her.  From  that  day  a  change  came  over  her  mind  ;  she  would 
no  longer  despise  and  ridicule  the  Baptists ;  and  before  long 
announced  to  her  astonished  and  indignant  parents  that  she 
found  it  necessary  for  the  peace  of  her  soul  to  become  publicly 
one  of  that  despised  body.  Nothing  could  equal  the  exaspera 
tion  which  followed  this  avowal.  They  threatened  that  if  she 
allowed  herself  to  be  baptized,  they  would  turn  her  out  of 
doors.  It  was  not  a  matter  of  choice,  but  of  stern  duty  with 
her  j  she  meekly  expostulated  —  she  besought  them  with  tears 
to  hear  her  reasons,  but  in  vain.  She  could  not,  however, 
resist  that  which  she  believed  to  be  her  duty  to  God  ;  she  was 
baptized,  and  had  no  longer  a  home  under  her  parents'  roof. 
She  then  took  refuge  with  an  uncle,  with  whom  she  resided 
several  years.  This  early  persecution  only  strengthened  her 
religious  opinions ;  and  she  remained  through  life  a  zealous 
advocate  of  those  peculiar  views  for  which  she  had  suffered  so 
much."  2 

The  date  of  Abijah  Garrison's  marriage  is  uncertain, 
except  that  it  was  nearly  at  the  close  of  the  last  century, 
and  on  the  12th  day  of  December.  The  place  of  the 
ceremony  is  equally  unknown  ;  neither  has  it  been  ascer 
tained  where  was  the  first  home  of  the  young  couple. 
Not  improbably,  from  what  follows,  it  may  have  been 

1  Perhaps  "  Elder  J.  Murphy,  a  licentiate  from  a  Baptist  church  in  Nova 
Scotia,"  who  in  1794  commenced  preaching  on  the  adjacent  Moose  Island, 
on  which  Eastport,   Me.,   is  situated.      (See  Millet's   'Hist.   Baptists  in 
Maine,'  p.  338.)     The  church  at  Eastport,  which  ultimately  grew  out  of 
this  beginning,  had  members  on  Deer  Island. 

2  As  Mr.  Garrison,  on  his  visit  to  England  in  1846,  must  have  furnished 
Mrs.  Howitt  with  these  facts  in  regard  to  his  mother,  they  are  reproduced 
here  as  more  authentic  than  any  later  recollections  could  have  been. 


16  WILLIAM  LLOYD    GAKKISON. 

CHAP.  i.  among  the  husband's  relatives  on  the  Jemseg,  and  here 
1764^1805.  perhaps  was  born  Mary  Ann,  who  died  in  infancy.  In 
1801  they  were  settled  in  Duke  Street,  St.  John,  where 
a  son,  James  Holley,  was  born  to  them  on  July  10,  and 
possibly  also  a  second  daughter,  Caroline  Eliza  (1803). 
Subsequently  they  removed  to  Granville,  Nova  Scotia,  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Fanny's  sister  Nancy  (Mrs.  Thomas 
Delap).  To  this  period  belongs  the  following  fragment 
of  a  letter  from  the  sailor  to  his  wife : 

Abijali  to  Fanny  Lloyd  Garrison. 

MS.  NICHOLAS  HARBOUR,  April  24,  1804. 

DEAR  FRANCES  :  I  am  now  at  a  Place  they  Call  Nicholas 
Harbour  about  14  Leagues  to  the  Eastward  of  Hallifax.  The 
April  22,  Wind  Came  ahead  on  Sunday  about  12  o'clock  and  Terminated 
1804.  in^o  a  most  Violent  Gale  :  however  by  Gods  Providence  we  got 
into  a  safe  and  Commodious  harbour,  and  screen'd  from  the 
inclemency  of  Weather.  I  write  this  as  it  were  at  a  Venture 
not  knowing  Whether  it  will  ever  come  to  hand,  but  I  feel  it  a 
Duty  incumbent  on  me  to  sooth  as  much  as  Possible  that 
anxiety  of  mind  you  must  Consquently  [constantly]  feel  in 
my  Absence :  and  as  writing  to  a  Bosom  friend  is  attended 
with  more  Pleasure  than  Pain  I  cou'd  write  whole  Volumes  if 
I  thought  it  wou'd  Redound  to  your  happiness,  but  the  Dis 
tance  we  are  apart  and  the  Uncertainty  of  Conveyance  Confines 
[me  to]  very  Narrow  limits.  I  know  of  nothing  in  this  life 
that  wou'd  [aug]ment  my  happiness  more  than  to  be  at  Home 
with  my  Family  and  Free'd  from  a  Tempestuous  Sky  and 
Enraged  Ocean,  with  Just  Enough  (Good  God)  to  Supply  our 
Real  Wants  and  Necessities  and  Cou'd  I  once  more  enjoy  a 
Ray  of  Divine  Light  from  the  Throne  of  God  and  Lamb  I 
shou'd  be  the  happiest  of  Sinners.  We  shall  sail  for  Newfound 
land  the  first  fair  wind  and  hope  we  Shall  not  stay  over  four 
Weeks  there  but  it  is  a  difficult  Season  of  the  year  and  if  we 
are  gone  two  months  .  .  . 

A  year  later,  Abijah  announces  to  his  mother  and  step 
father  his  intention  to  return  to  the  old  home  of  the 
Puritan  settlers  on  the  St.  John  —  to  Essex  County, 
Massachusetts.  His  wife  appends  a  brief  postscript,  and 
the  letter,  precious  for  its  incidental  family  history  and 


ANCESTRY.  17 

character  glimpses,  and  for  the  union  on  one  page  of  a    CHAP.  i. 
still  loving  pair,  is  despatched  to  Mr.  Robert  Angus,    1764^805. 
Waterborough,1  River  St.  John,  New  Brunswick,  to  the 
care  of  Mr.  Geo.  Harden,  City  of  St.  John,     Thus  it 
reads : 

Abijah  Garrison  to  Ms  Parents. 

GRANVILLE,  April  4th,  1805.  MS. 

MUCH  RESPECTED  PARENTS:  This  perhaps  is  the  last  you 
may  Expect  from  me  dated  at  Granville  as  I  am  about  to 
remove  to  Newbury  Port  in  the  united  states,  Where  I  Expect 
to  Spend  the  remainder  of  my  days.  I  have  been  following  the 
Rule  of  false  Position,  or  rather  permutation,  these  Seven  Last 
years,2  and  have  never  been  able  to  Solve  the  Question  to  my 
Satisfaction  till  now.  Not  that  I  am  disaffected  towards  Gov 
ernment  but  the  barreness  of  these  Eastern  Climates  rather 
Obliges  me  to  seek  the  welfare  of  my  family  in  a  more  hospitable 
Climate,  where  I  shall  be  less  expos'd  to  the  Ravages  of  war3 
and  stagnation  of  business,  which  is  severely  felt  in  Nova 
Scotia.  The  Prohibition  of  the  American  trade  may  hi  time 
help  this  Country4  but  from  want  of  Circulating  Cash  this 
Country  will  long  lay  bound  in  Extreme  difficulties  and  Perpetual 
Lawsuits.  [The]  last  winter  was  attended  with  distress  among 
a  great  number  of  Poor  people  in  this  Place.  The  scarcity  of 
bread  and  all  kind  of  vegetables  was  too  well  known  in  this 
Part  of  Nova  Scotia,  the  Great  Drouth  Last  summer  Cut  off  all 

1  Jemseg  was  in  the  parish  of  Waterborough. 

2  This  gives  1798  as  the  date  of  the  last  sojourn  on  the  Jemseg,  or  even 
of  the  marriage  of  Abijah  and  Fanny. 

3  With  Napoleon,  namely. 

4  This  refers  to  the  short-sighted  policy  adopted  by  Great  Britain  after 
the  American  Revolution.     Inasmuch  as  the  United  States  had  "become 
the  rivals  of  England  in  trade  and  manufactures,  it  was  thought  necessary 
to  confine  the  imports  [of  the  colonies]  to  Tobacco,  Naval  Stores,  and  such 
articles  as  the  British  Colonies  did  not  produce  in  sufficient  quantities  for 
their  own  use  and  consumption,  and  which  could  not  be  obtained  else 
where,"  and  likewise  to  limit  the  exports,  "  such  articles  and  goods  being 
imported  and  exported  by  British  subjects  and  in  British  ships  "  (Halibur- 
ton's  '  Historical  and  Statistical  Account  of  Nova  Scotia,'  2 :  384).     The  act 
regulating  this  trade  in  force  in  1805  was  that  of  28  George  III. ;  and  even  as 
Abijah  Garrison  was  writing,  Sir  John  Wentworth,  Lieutenant-Governor 
of  Nova  Scotia,  was  about  to  sign  a  proclamation  (April  5,  1805)  indicating 
certain  articles  which,  under  the  discretion  allowed  him,  might  be  imported 
for  the  space  of  three  months,  still  in  British  bottoms  only  (Nova  Scotia 
Rotfril  Gazette,  June  13,  1805). 

VOL.  I.— 2 


18  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GAEKISON. 

CHAP.  I.  the  fanners  Expectations  and  People  in  general  Experienc'd 
64^1805  the  want  of  hay  Equal  to  that  of  Bread  j  the  smiling  spring  has 
at  last  return'd  but  brings  nothing  with  it  as  yet  substantial  for 
the  present  support  of  Man.  I  speak  not  this  of  myself,  but  of 
many  of  my  Neighbours  j  I  thank  God  I  have  a  Competency  at 
present,  but  the  times  forbode  greater  distress  ahead.  I  have 
in  the  Conclusion  settled  my  Business  here  and  am  now  about 
to  remove. 

I  lately  rec'd  a  kind  letter  from  Sally  Clark1  which  merits 
my  thanks  and  well  wishes  towards  her.  I  shall  Endeavour  to 
write  to  her  before  I  leave  this  Place  if  Possible.  Silas 2  I'm 
afraid  has  forgot  me.  William3  has  wrote  very  kindly  whom 
I  shall  answer  the  first  opp'ty.  It  wou'd  give  me  infinite 
Satisfaction  when  you  write  if  you  wou'd  Cast  off  the  formal 
method  of  arranging  your  letters  and  write  more  of  the  Par 
ticular  Circumstances  attending  your  welfare  j  how  you  get 
along  thro  this  troublesom  World,  what  difficulties  you  meet 
with  how  times  and  seasons  are  with  you  what  alterations  their 
is  in  the  neighbourhood  since  I  left  Jemsagg — the  smallest 
Circumstances  will  awake  my  memory  and  Present  to  my  view 
the  seasons  when  I  left  my  native  home.  Fanny  and  the  little 
ones  are  well,  Little  Jemmy  says  I  must  tell  Granny  Angus  he 
has  got  a  little  fife  and  trumpet  and  a  penknife  and  he  Can 
Sing  a  Great  many  tunes.  Fanny  intended  to  write  by  this 
Conveyance  but  we  are  so  much  hurried  to  get  things  in  order 
for  moving  that  she  scarcely  has  time  tho  Earnestly  desires  to 
be  remembered  to  you  and  all  the  family. 

I  believe  now  the  Enchantment  is  broke  for  I  find  that  some 
of  my  letters  have  lately  Eeach'd  you.  I  once  thought  that  you 
never  meant  to  write  to  me  again  after  writing  so  many  and 
not  receiving  any  answer  but  without  doubt  they  went  thro 
a  firey  tryal.  The  Policy  and  Craft  of  Jealous  minded  People 
is  beyond  Description.  I  have  enclos'd  a  letter  I  had  lately 
(and  the  only  one  I  ever  had)  from  Rebekah  Nathan4  —  which 
you  are  at  liberty  to  read.  I  think  myself  Greatly  injur'd  by 
that  Person :  in  the  first  Place  when  I  left  St.  Johns  I  was  in 

1  That  is,  his  younger  sister  Sarah,  who  married  Joseph  Clark. 

2  His  younger  brother.    "  Slow  as  Uncle  Silas  "  was  a  proverb  at  Jemseg, 
and  doubtless  applied  to  correspondence  as  well  as  to  other  things. 

3  His  youngest  brother,   a  cripple  from  birth,   but  a  very  intelligent 
schoolmaster. 

4  Apparently,  Nathan's  Rebecca  is  meant.    Nathan  Garrison,  the  next 
younger  brother  of  Abijah,  married  Rebecca  Ansley.    There  was  a  "  Re 
bekah  Joseph  "  also  in  the  family. 


ANCESTRY.  19 

Nathan's  debt  according  to  his  accompt  £4:5:4.  After  I  CHAP.  I. 
returned  from  the  West  Indies  I  Paid  him  Eight  dollars  which  I  6  ~l9ot. 
left  a  balance  in  his  favour  of  £2  :  5  :  4.  Some  time  after  this 
I  sent  over  ^to  Nathan  for  my  things  which  fanny  left  in  his 
Care  and  was  deny'd  them  on  Accompt  of  what  I  Owed  him. 
At  the  same  time  Got  a  Great  deal  of  Abuse  from  Rebecca. 
The  Report  Came  here  and  Rung  thro  all  Granville  at  my 
Expence.  Since  that  I  Consign'd  to  Nathan  in  behalf  of  Mr. 
Delap  nine  Barrels  of  Cider  which  it  seem  by  the  letter  they 
are  About  to  make  a  Grabb  at  part  of  that  and  Leave  my 
things  at  the  mercy  of  fortune.  If  things  run  in  this  Channel 
and  I  shou'd  send  over  a  bank  note  for  Exchange  its  Probable 
the  Cider  wou'd  be  set  aside  and  a  part  of  the  Exchange  secured 

as  B *  it  seem  is  an  Excellent  hand  to  take  Care  of  Other 

Peoples  money. —  In  all  this  Job  sinned  not  with  his  lips ;  I 
dont  blame  Nathan  for  wanting  his  own  and  had  he  sent  my 
things  when  I  sent  for  them  I  snou'd  have  Paid  him  long  Ago 
— but  for  want  thereof  take  the  Body. 

I  shou'd  be  happy  to  write  to  all  my  Relations  but  have 
scarcely  time.  May  Kind  Providence  protect  you  thro  all  your 
difficulties  and  receive  you  at  Last  where  the  Wicked  Cease 
from  troubling  Where  Sorrow  and  Sighing  shall  flee  away  is 
the  Sincere  wish  of  your  affectionate  Son 

ABIJAH  GARRISON. 

Give  my  love  to  Silas  and  William,  Sally  and  all  the  Rest  of 
our  family. 

DEAR  PARENTS:  I  steal  a  Moments  time  to  Insert  a  few 
Lines  at  the  Bottom  of  this  Letter  to  bid  you  a  Farewell  and 
once  More  to  thank  you  for  your  Care  and  Attention  to  me  in 
times  Back  which  shall  ever  be  Gratefully  Remembered  by  her 
who  is  now  Addressing  you.  I  do  not  know  what  to  write 
but  my  affection  is  not  Lesened  towards  you.  My  heart  over 
whelms  with  Gratitude  and  Love,  and  a  tenderness  awakes  in 
my  Breast  of  filial  Joy  while  writing  to  you.  May  God  bless 
you  in  all  things  temporal  and  spiritual. 

FANNY  GARRISON. 

The  chance  which  preserved  this  document  could 
hardly  have  been  improved  upon  by  choice,  if  it  had 
been  designed  to  exhibit  on  the  one  hand  Abijah's 

l  Perhaps  "  Becky." 


20  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GAKEISON. 

CHAP.  i.  native  gift  of  literary  expression,  his  liveliness  as  a 
1764^1805.  correspondent  —  so  different  from  the  "  formalism "  of 
the  period,  of  which  he  complains  —  his  love  of  home 
and  kindred,  his  pleasant  and  even  his  grim  humor  $  on 
the  other,  the  deeply  emotional  nature  of  Fanny  Lloyd, 
thrilling  not  only  with  the  thought  of  separation  from 
past  benefactors,  but  also  with  the  new  life  just  then 
beginning  to  stir  under  her  bosom. 

The  same  Providence  by  which  slavers  made  their 
impious  voyages  in  safety,  attended  the  ship  bearing 
its  passengers,  visible  and  invisible,  from  Nova  Scotia  to 
Newburyport,  in  the  spring-time  of  1805 ;  whose  arrival 
was  the  unsuspected  event  of  the  year  in  the  third  city 
of  Massachusetts1 — for  the  six  or  seven  thousand  in 
habitants  were  celebrating  rather  the  building  of  the 
new  Court  House  on  the  Mall,  the  founding  of  the  Social 
Library,  and  the  opening  of  Plum  Island  turnpike  and 
bridge,  or  making  careful  note  of  the  thirty  days' 
drought  in  July  and  August.  On  the  10th  of  December,2 
in  a  little  frame  house,  still  standing  on  School  Street, 
between  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  in  which  White- 
field's  remains  are  interred,  and  the  house  in  which  the 
great  preacher  died,  —  and  so  in  the  very  bosom  of 
Lib.  4:15.  orthodoxy, — a  man-child  was  born  to  Abijah  and  Fanny 
Garrison,-  and  called,  after  an  uncle  who  subsequently 
lost  his  life  in  Boston  harbor,  William  Lloyd  Garrison. 

1  The  seal  of  the  province  of  New  Brunswick  is  a  ship  nearing  port 
under  full  sail,  with  the  legend,  Spem  reduxit. 

2  The  town  records  say  the  12th. 


CHAPTER  II. 

BOYHOOD.— 1805  - 1818. 

FEW  New  England  towns  preserve  so  well  the  aspect    CHAP.  n. 
which  they  wore  at  the  close  of  the  last  and  the    1805-1818. 
beginning  of  the  present  century,  or  have  been  so  little 
affected,  externally,  by  the  changes  and  vicissitudes  in 
their  business  and  social  life,  as  Newburyport ;  and  the 
description  which  President  Dwight  of  Yale  College  gave 
of  the  place  in  1796  is,  in  the  main,  not  inapplicable  to-day. 

"  The  town,"  he  wrote,  "  is  built  on  a  declivity  of  unrivalled  D-wight's 
beauty.  The  slope  is  easy  and  elegant ;  the  soil  rich;  the  New Eng- 
streets,  except  one  near  the  water,  clean  and  sweet ;  and  the  ?amo_ 
verdure,  wherever  it  is  visible,  exquisite.  The  streets  are  either 
parallel,  or  right  angled,  to  the  river ;  the  southern  shore  of 
which  bends,  here,  towards  the  south-east.  None  of  them  are 
regularly  formed.  .  .  .  Still,  there  is  so  near  an  approxi 
mation  to  regularity  as  to  awaken  in  the  mind  of  a  traveller, 
with  peculiar  strength,  a  wish  that  the  regularity  had  been 
perfect.  .  .  .  There  are  few  towns  of  equal  beauty  in  this 
country.  .  .  .  The  houses,  taken  collectively,  make  a  better 
appearance  than  those  of  any  other  town  in  New  England. 
Many  of  them  are  particularly  handsome.  Their  appendages, 
also,  are  unusually  neat.  Indeed,  an  air  of  wealth,  taste,  and 
elegance  is  spread  over  this  beautiful  spot  with  a  cheerfulness 
and  brilliancy  to  which  I  know  no  rival." 

During  the  ten  years  following  the  period  to  which 
this  description  refers,  the  town  was  at  the  height  of  its 
prosperity.  Commercially  it  was  of  much  importance, 
excelled  only  by  Boston  and  Salem,  and  owned  a  multi 
tude  of  vessels  engaged  in  the  foreign  and  coastwise 

21 


22  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GARRISON.  [^T.  1-13. 

CHAP.  ii.  trade,  and  in  the  fisheries.  Not  only  were  its  wharves 
1805^1818.  constantly  crowded  with  ships  and  loaded  with  merchan 
dise,  but  the  bank  of  the  Merrimac  River,  even  as  far  as 
Deer  Island,  two  miles  above  the  town,  was  occupied  by 
busy  ship-yards ;  and  ship-building  was  one  of  the  most 
important  industries  of  the  place.  The  prosperous  mer 
chants  and  ship-owners  built  fine  mansions  for  them 
selves  on  State  Street,  and  along  the  beautiful  High 
Street,  from  which  the  town  slopes  gently  down  to  the 
water ;  while  their  townsmen  of  more  moderate  preten 
sions  occupied  comfortable  homes  on  the  lower  thorough 
fares  between  High  Street  and  the  river. 

The  commercial  glory  and  importance  of  the  place 
have,  thanks  to  the  centralizing  effect  of  the  railroad, 
long  since  departed.  Its  wharves  no  longer  wear  a 
busy  aspect ;  its  ship-yards  have  one  by  one  fallen  into 
disuse  until  few  remain  j  but  its  streets  and  dwellings 
still  preserve  the  neat,  attractive,  and  well-cared-for  ap 
pearance  which  distinguished  them  when  Dr.  D wight 
visited  the  town  in  1796.  If  some  houses  of  more  modern 
construction  have  here  and  there  arisen  in  places  that 
were  vacant,  the  old  mansions  have  remained  undis 
turbed,  and  they  still  predominate  and  give  character  to 
the  place.  The  Newburyport  boy  of  sixty  years  ago  who 
revisits  his  native  town  to-day,  finds  many  quarters  whose 
general  features  are  unchanged. 

The  Embargo  of  1807-8  had  not  yet  laid  its  paralyzing 
hand  upon  the  busy  port  when  Abijah  Garrison  came 
there  to  establish  a  new  home  for  himself  and  family, 
and  to  seek  employment.  He  was  a  stranger  in  the 
place,  without  friend  or  acquaintance  among  the  mer 
chants  to  whom  he  applied  for  a  position  ;  but  his  per 
sonal  presence  and  bearing  were  such  that  he  speedily 
won  their  attention  and  confidence,  and  secured  an  en 
gagement  as  sailing-master,1  in  which  capacity  he  made 

1  Presumably,  since  the  books  of  the  Newburyport  and  Salem  custom 
houses  show  no  record  of  him  as  captain  of  any  of  the  vessels  sailing  from 
those  ports  in  1805-1808.  Yet  he  always  bore  that  title. 


^T.  1-13.]  BOYHOOD.  23 

several  voyages.  The  only  record  that  remains  of  these  CHAP.  ir. 
is  contained  in  two  letters,  written  respectively  to  his  1805^1818. 
brother  Joseph,  then  residing  at  Deer  Island,  and  to  his 
wife.  The  first,  which  bears  date  of  April  3,  1806  (from 
Newburyport),  mentions  that  he  has  "  just  returned  from 
Virginia  with  a  load  of  Corn  and  Flour,"  that  he  has 
declined  numerous  opportunities  to  go  as  pilot  to 
"Quoddy"  on  good  wages,  not  being  aware  that  his 
brother  was  there,  and  believing  that  he  could  make 
more  by  going  to  Virginia;  and  that  he  has  some 
thought  of  going  on  a  fishing  trip  to  Labrador,  thirty 
dollars  a  month  being  the  inducement.  Evidently  he 
was  well  satisfied  with  his  experience  in  Massachusetts, 
for  he  had  already  written  to  his  brother  William  that 
he  liked  the  country  in  the  main,  though  giving  "some 
ludicrous  descriptions  of  the  customs  of  the  place."  And 
he  now  wrote  to  Joseph : 

"  I  have  not  much  time  to  write  you  the  Particulars  of  Busi-  MS. 
ness  here,  but  Earnestly  recommend  you  to  Come  here  if  you 
possibly  Can  without  Injuring  yourself,  for  I  am  Confident  you 
wou'd  get  a  decent  living  here.  There  is  more  than  fifty  ways 
you  might  find  Employment,  and  always  have  the  Cash  as 
soon  as  the  work  is  done.  Money  is  as  Plenty  here  as  goods." 

His  closing  sentence  is  characteristic  : 

"  I  shall  for  the  future  Put  all  my  letters  in  the  Post  Ofiice 
and  wish  you  to  do  the  Same.  The  Price  of  a  letter  by  Post 
will  not  amount  to  more  than  a  meal's  victuals,  and  I  am 
always  willing  to  eat  one  Meal  less  for  Every  letter  I  receive 
from  any  of  Our  family  (rather  than  fail  of  getting  them)." 

The  letter  to  his  wife  was  written  towards  the  close  of 
the  same  year,  being  dated  Pointe-a-Pitre,  Guadeloupe,1 
November  12,  1806,  where,  owing  to  the  sickness  of  him 
self  and  the  crew,  consequent  upon  bad  provisions,  he 
had  been  detained  twenty-four  days,  instead  of  five,  as 
he  had  anticipated. 

"  God  only  knows,"  he  wrote,  "  when  we  shall  get  away  :  it        MS. 
seems  seven  years  to  me  since  I  saw  you  last.    I  cou'd  with 
l  He  probably  went  out  in  the  James,  Captain  Dole. 


24  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GAKKISON.  [^T.  1-13. 


CHAP.  II.     pleasure  this  moment  give  all  I  shall  earn  this  voyage  to  be 
1805^1818     Present  witn  y°u  an<i  my  children.    May  God  bless  you  [and] 

preserve  you  in  health  is  the  prayer  of    your    affectionate 

Husband." 

The  modest  house  on  School  Street  in  which  William, 
or,  as  his  mother  always  called  him,  Lloyd,  was  born, 
belonged  to  Mrs.  Martha  Farnham  and  her  husband, 
who  was  a  captain  in  the  coasting  trade  j  and  of  them 
Abijah  and  Fanny  Garrison  hired  a  few  rooms  soon 
after  their  arrival  in  Newburyport.  A  strong  friendship 
quickly  sprang  up  between  the  two  women,  who  found  a 
bond  of  sympathy  in  the  frequent  prolonged  absence  at 
sea  of  their  husbands,  and  in  the  fact  that  they  were 
both  ardent  Baptists  and  members  of  the  First  Baptist 
Church,  which  had  been  established  in  Newburyport  in 
the  spring  of  1805.  This  friendship  abided  during  their 
lifetime,  and  was  transmitted  to  their  children,  who  grew 
up  together  as  members  of  one  family. 

Before  Lloyd  was  three  years  old,  his  parents  lost 
their  second  daughter,  Caroline,  who  died  in  conse 
quence  of  eating  some  poisonous  flowers  in  a  neighbor 
ing  garden.  A  few  weeks  later,  in  July,  1808,  a  third 
daughter  was  born  to  them,  to  whom  the  name  of  Maria 
Elizabeth  was  given,  and  not  long  after  this  date  Abijah 
Garrison  left  Newburyport,  never  again  to  return  to  it 
or  to  his  family.  He  went  back  to  New  Brunswick,  and 
is  known  to  have  been  living  there  in  1814,  and  to  have 
made  several  short  voyages,  and  he  is  also  said  to  have 
taught  school.  Of  the  place  and  time  of  his  death  no 
knowledge  exists,  though  he  is  believed  to  have  ended 
his  days  in  Canada,  whither  he  finally  went  from  New 
Brunswick.1 

1  The  following,  which  is  the  last  known  letter  written  by  Abijah  Gar 
rison,  was  addressed  to  his  cousin,  Joanna  Palmer,  of  Sheffield,  on  the 
St.  John  : 

WATERBOBOUGH,  July  the  27th,  1814. 

DEAR  COUSIN  :  According  to  promise  I  have  broken  the  Ice  :  or  rather  broke 
silence  —  after  so  long  a  time  —  and  must  apologise  for  this  being  the  first 
from  me,  which  I  asure  you  was  not  from  want  of  Respect,  but  principally 


Mf.  1-13.]  BOYHOOD.  25 

The  cause  of  this  desertion  of  wife  and  children  by  a    CHAP.  n. 
man  whose  affection  for  them,  as  for  all  related  to  him,    1805^1818. 
was  so  often  manifested  and  cannot  be  questioned,  must 
ever  remain  somewhat  of  a  mystery.     There  is  reason  to 
believe  that  the  constant  temptation  to  drink,  which  the 
social  customs  and  habits  of  that  day,  as  well  as  the 
usages  of  the  sailor's  life,  offered,  proved  at  times  more 
than  he  could  withstand,  and  that  he  experienced  a  keen 
sense  of  mortification  whenever  his  appetite  had  over 
come  him.    Especially  was  this  temptation  strong  in  a 
town  like  Newburyport,  itself  the  seat  of  numerous  dis-    • 
tilleries,   and   having  always  a  considerable    transient 
population  of  seafaring  men,  who,  accustomed  to  regular 
rations  of  grog  at  sea,  were  naturally  prone  to  convivial 
habits  when  in  port. 

"  It  was  the  fashion  of  the  day,"  writes  a  venerable  woman,  MS. 
a  relative  of  Abijahr  who  well  remembers  that  period,  "  to  use 
alcoholic  spirit  in  all  places  of  honor  and  trust.  We  had  it  at 
our  ordinations,  weddings,  births,  and  funerals,  and  the  de 
canter  was  brought  on  the  table  to  greet  our  friends  with  when 
they  came,  and  was  not  forgotten  when  they  left  j  and  if  they 
could  stand  the  test  and  not  reel,  they  were  called  sober  men." 

There  is  no  evidence  that  Abijah  Garrison  ever  became 
an  habitually  intemperate  man;  but  that  his  inability 
always  to  control  an  appetite  which  his  wife  abhorred 
with  all  the  intensity  of  her  nature,  prevented  his  ob 
taining  the  employment  which  he  had  readily  secured  in 
previous  years,  and  led  him  to  seek  new  fields,  is  not  im 
probable.  Certain  it  is  that  his  wife  used  entreaty  and 
expostulation  to  induce  him  to  abandon  the  habit,  and  it 
is  related  that  on  one  occasion,  when  some  of  his  fellow- 
captains  came  to  the  house  for  a  carouse,  she  promptly 

from  a  barrenness  of  anything  to  address  you  upon,  in  Consequence  of  the 
Whirl  I  have  taken  in  the  World.  I  shou'd  be  happy  to  see  you  often,  and 
'  hope  you  will  Indulge  us  with  your  Company  soon,  at  least  this  fall.  I 
shou'd  be  happy  of  your  Correspondence  by  letters  &  hope  you  will  do  me 
the  favour  to  write  as  often  as  you  Can:  When  you  answer  this  I  will 
write  you  a  Sentimental  piece.  Wishing  you  the  Blessings  of  Health, 

I  remain  your  affectionate  A.  GARRISON. 


26  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GARKISON.  [^T.  1-13. 

CHAP.  ii.  ejected  and  closed  the  door  upon  them,  and  broke  the 
1805^1818.  bottles  of  spirits  —  not  a  difficult  feat  for  a  woman  of  her 
physique,  when  her  moral  indignation  was  aroused.  She 
was  in  the  fulness  of  life  and  vigor  when,  at  the  age  of 
thirty-two,  she  found  herself  left  with  three  small  chil 
dren  utterly  dependent  upon  her  for  support,  the  eldest 
being  but  seven  years  old,  and  the  youngest  a  babe  in 
arms ;  while  Lloyd,  who  was  to  become  in  later  years  her 
main  comfort  and  hope,  was  less  than  three  —  too  young, 
as  already  stated,  to  retain  any  personal  recollection  of 
his  father.  Up  to  that  time  she  had  enjoyed  such  ex 
uberant  health  that  she  was  wont  to  say  that  "only  a 
cannon-ball  could  kill  Fanny  Garrison  "  ;  but  though  she 
resolutely  set  about  the  task  of  maintaining  herself 
and  her  little  ones,  the  blow  of  this  desertion  was  one 
from  which  she  never  recovered,  and  it  shadowed  the 
remaining  years  of  her  life. 

The  struggle  for  existence  became  a  severe  and  bitter 
one.  The  day  of  Newburyport's  prosperity  had  passed, 
and  the  years  of  the  Embargo  and  of  the  war  of  1812-15 
brought  disaster  and  ruin  to  its  business  and  commerce. 
It  was  no  easy  matter,  therefore,  to  find  the  remunerative 
employment  which  would  feed  so  many  mouths.  The 
little  house  in  School  Street  still  afforded  them  shelter, 
thanks  to  the  sisterly  devotion  of  Martha  Farnham,  who 
assured  them  that  while  she  had  a  roof  to  cover  her  they 
should  share  it.  When  circumstances  permitted,  Mrs. 
Garrison  took  up  the  calling  of  a  monthly  nurse,  and 
during  her  necessary  occasional  absences  from  home  the 
children  were  under  the  motherly  care  of  their  "Aunt" 
Farnham.  When  Lloyd  was  older,  his  mother  used  to 
send  him  out  on  election  and  training  days  to  sell  the 
nice  sticks  of  molasses  candy  which  she  was  an  adept  in 
making,  and  he  thus  earned  a  few  pennies  towa*rds  the 
common  support.1  A  harder  task  for  the  little  fellow  was 

1  This  fact  is  recorded  in  the  "common-place  book  "  of  Wendell  Phillips, 
as  told  him  by  Mr.  Garrison  in  "Nov.,  '47,  once  when  his  boys  had  a  molasses 
scrape."  "  So  Luther  sang  at  doors  f or  pence,"  adds  the  chronicler. 


^T.  1-13.]  BOYHOOD.  27 

to  go  to  a  certain  mansion  on  State  Street  for  food,  which    CHAP.  n. 
the  friendly  inmates  would  put  aside  and  send  to  his    1805^1818. 
mother  j  and  he  sensitively  tried  to  conceal  the  contents 
of  his  tin  pail  from  the  rude  boys  who  sought  to  discover 
them  and  to  taunt  him. 

With  all  her  sorrow  at  heart,  his  mother  maintained 
her  cheerful  and  courageous  demeanor.  She  had  a  fine 
voice  —  "  one  of  the  best,"  her  son  was  wont  to  say  — 
and  was  ever  singing  at  her  work  j  and  in  the  church 
meetings  at  which  she  and  Martha  Farnham  were  con 
stant  and  devoted  attendants  (sometimes  opening  their 
own  house  for  an  evening  gathering),  she  sang  with 
fervor  the  soul-stirring  hymns  which  have  been  the  in 
spiration  and  delight  of  the  devout  for  generations.  She 
was  mirthful  withal,  and  had  a  quick  sense  of  the  ludi 
crous.  Once,  when  she  strayed  into  the  Methodist  meet 
ing  wearing  a  ruffle  about  her  neck,  as  was  the  fashion 
of  the  day,  she  was  startled  by  the  minister's  singling 
her  out  for  rebuke,  in  his  prayer,  for  what  he  consid 
ered  a  frivolous  habit.  Her  gravity  was  nearly  upset 
when  the  good  man  exclaimed,  "  We  pray  thee,  O  Lord, 
to  strip  Sister  Garrison  of  her  Babylonish  frills ! w  and 
she  was  convulsed  with  laughter,  hours  after,  at  the 
thought  of  it. 

In  September,  1810,  she  made  her  last  visit  to  her  old 
home  at  Granville,  Nova  Scotia,  taking  Lloyd  with  her ; 
but  he  was  too  young  to  remember  anything  but  the 
Indians  whom  he  then  saw,  and  who  came  to  his  aunt's 
house  with  their  pappooses  slung  upon  their  backs. 
During  the  war  of  1812-15,  she  removed  to  Lynn  to 
pursue  her  vocation,  taking  James,  her  favorite  son,  a 
boy  of  much  beauty  and  promise,  with  her,  that  he  might 
learn  the  trade  of  shoemaking.  Elizabeth  was  left  in 
Mrs.  Farnham's  protecting  care,  while  Lloyd  went  to 
live  with  Deacon  Ezekiel  Bartlett  and  wife,  and  their 
two  daughters,  worthy  people,  who  dwelt  at  the  corner 
of  Water  and  Summer  Streets,  within  sight  and  stoned- 
throw  of  the  Merrimac,  and  who  were  faithful  members 


28  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GAKKISON.  I>£T.  1-13. 

CHAP.  ii.  of  the  little  Baptist  Church.  Up  to  that  time,  what  little 
1805^1818.  instruction  the  boy  had  received  had  probably  been  ob 
tained  at  the  primary  or  "  writing  school "  opposite  the 
Farnhams',  in  School  Street;  and  he  had  not  shown  him 
self  an  apt  scholar,  being  slow  in  mastering  the  alphabet, 
and  surpassed  even  by  his  little  sister  Elizabeth.  He 
finally  learned  to  spell,  read,  and  write  correctly,  though 
the  last  accomplishment  was  acquired  with  no  slight 
pains,  for  he  was  left-handed,  and  his  master  promptly 
checked  his  propensity  to  write  accordingly,  by  a  rap 
over  the  knuckles  with  his  ruler.  The  treatment  was 
radical,  and  the  result  a  clear,  round,  handsome  chirog- 
raphy,  which  was  exhibited  in  the  banks  and  counting- 
rooms  of  the  town  as  a  model,  and  which  always  retained 
its  character  and  beauty. 

After  he  became  an  inmate  of  the  Bartlett  household 
he  was  sent  to  the  Grammar  School  on  the  Mall,  for  three 
months,  at  the  end  of  which  he  was  compelled  to  leave, 
and  do  what  he  could  towards  earning  his  board  by  help 
ing  Deacon  Bartlett.  The  good  Deacon,  who  was  in  very 
humble  circumstances,  sawed  wood,  sharpened  saws, 
made  lasts,  and  even  sold  apples  from  a  little  stand  at 
his  door,  to  win  a  subsistence  for  his  family  ;  and  Lloyd, 
who  was  an  exemplary  and  conscientious  boy,  and 
warmly  attached  to  his  kind  friends,  dutifully  tried  to 
do  all  he  could  to  lighten  their  burden  of  poverty.  There 
were  times,  however,  when  he  wished  that  he  did  not  have 
to  follow  the  Deacon  about  to  help  him  saw  and  split  wood, 
and  would  much  rather  have  gone  off  to  play  with  other 
boys ;  and  once,  when  aggrieved  by  the  denial  of  some 
privilege  which  he  had  asked  of  the  Deacon,  he  ran  away 
with  an  enterprising  comrade,  and  was  met  twenty  miles 
from  town  by  the  driver  of  the  mail-coach,  who  picked 
up  the  fugitives  and  brought  them  back. 

Lloyd  was  a  thorough  boy,  fond  of  games  and  of  all 
boyish  sports.  Barefooted,  he  trundled  his  hoop  all  over 
Newburyport ;  he  swam  in  the  Merrimac  in  summer,  and 
skated  on  it  in  winter  j  he  was  good  at  sculling  a  boat ; 


THE   OLD    GRAMMAR   SCHOOL,   NEWBURYPORT. 

GARRISON'S  BIRTHPLACE. 


^ET.  1-13.J  BOYHOOD.  29 

he  played  at  bat-and-ball  and  snowball,  and  sometimes    CHAP.  n. 

led  the  "  South-end  boys  "  against  the  "  North-enders  "    1805^1818. 

in  the  numerous  conflicts  between  the  youngsters  of  the 

two  sections  j  he  was  expert  with  marbles.     Once,  with 

a  playmate,  he  swam  across  the  river  to  "•  Great  Rock,"  a 

distance   of  three-fourths   of  a  mile,   and  effected  his 

return  against  the  tide ;  and  once,  in  winter,  he  nearly 

lost  his  life  by  breaking  through  the  ice  on  the  river, 

and  reached  the  shore  only  after  a  desperate  struggle, 

the  ice  yielding  as  often  as  he  attempted  to  climb  upon 

its  surface. 

It  was  a  favorite  pastime  of  the  boys  of  that  day  to 
swim  from  one  wharf  to  another  adjacent,  where  vessels 
from  the  West  Indies  discharged  their  freight  of  mo 
lasses,  and  there  to  indulge  in  stolen  sweetness,  extracted 
by  a  smooth  stick  inserted  through  the  bung-hole.  When 
detected  and  chased,  they  would  plunge  into  the  water  and 
escape  to  the  wharf  on  which  they  had  left  their  clothes. 
In  this  way  they  became  connoisseurs  of  the  different 
grades  of  molasses,  and  fastidious  in  their  selection  of 
the  hogshead  to  be  tested.  Like  most  lads  brought  up 
in  seaport  towns,  Lloyd  was  smitten  with  a  desire  to  go  to 
sea,  but  happily  this  never  took  full  possession  of  him, 
as  it  subsequently  did  of  his  ill-fated  brother. 

Inheriting  his  mother's  fondness  for  music,  he  joined 
the  choir  of  the  Baptist  Church  while  yet  a  boy,  and 
sometimes  acted  as  chorister.  He  had  a  rich  voice,  which 
could  soar  high  and  follow  any  flute.  It  was  a  delight 
to  him  to  go  to  singing-school,  and  many  of  the  hymns 
and  tunes  which  he  sang  all  his  life  were  associated  in 
his  memory  with  the  circumstances  under  which  he  first 
learned  them,  or  with  the  fact  that  they  were  favorites 
of  his  dear  mother.  The  first  psalm-tune  he  ever  learned 
was  the  34th  Psalm, — "  Through  all  the  changing  scenes 
of  life,  in  trouble  and  in  joy;"  and  "  Wicklow"  he  first 
heard  at  a  singing-school  in  Belleville  (part  of  Newbury- 
port),  "  where  there  were  lots  of  boys  and  pretty  girls." 
In  later  years,  and,  indeed,  to  the  end  of  his  life,  it  was 


30  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON.  [^T.  1-13. 


CHAP.  II.  his  habit,  each  Sunday  morning,  to  go  through  these, 
1805^1818.  accompanying  himself  on  the  piano  with  one  hand  (he 
could  never  master  the  bass)  ;  and  the  strains  of  "  Coro 
nation,"  "Hebron,"  "Ward,"  "Denmark,"  "Lenox/7 
"  Majesty,"  and  other  familiar  tunes,  would  waken  the 
sleepers  above,  who,  claiming  their  Sunday  morning 
privilege,  were  still  lingering  in  their  beds. 

He  had  a  great  fondness  for  pet  animals,  especially 
cats,  who  instinctively  recognized  him  as  their  friend 
and  would  come  and  jump  into  his  lap  at  first  sight  and 
without  invitation.  From  earliest  boyhood  he  had  one 
or  more  pussies,  and  his  first  great  sorrow  was  being 
compelled  to  drown  an  old  favorite  whose  days  of  use 
fulness  were  considered  past.  He  never  forgot  the 
agony  of  that  experience.  A  pleasanter  remembrance 
was  of  the  demonstrations  of  delight  with  which  another 
pet  cat  greeted  him,  on  his  return  home  after  a  consider 
able  absence.  A  little  while  after  the  boy  had  gone  to 
bed  he  was  awakened  by  the  rubbing  of  soft  fur  against 
Ms  face,  and  found  that  puss  had  brought  her  latest 
litter  of  kittens,  born  while  he  was  away,  and  had  de 
posited  them,  one  by  one,  about  his  head.  "My  eyes 
moistened  when  I  realized  what  she  had  done,"  he  said, 
"  and  we  all  slept  in  one  bed  that  night." 

During  their  mother's  absence  in  Lynn,  the  children 
heard  frequently  from  her  by  letter,  and  Lloyd  was  able 
to  write  to  her  in  reply.  Her  little  notes  to  him  were 
full  of  tender  affection  and  earnest  hope  that  he  would 
be  a  good  and  dutiful  boy.  Already  her  health  and 
strength  were  beginning  to  fail,  after  her  arduous 
struggle  to  maintain  herself  and  her  children  ;  and  her 
inability  now  to  do  continuous  work  made  it  all  the 
more  imperative  that  they  should  learn  trades  that 
would  enable  them  to  become  self-supporting.  So  Lloyd 
was  brought  to  Lynn  to  learn  shoemaking,  and  appren 
ticed  to  Gamaliel  W.  Oliver,  an  excellent  man  and  a 
member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  who  lived  on  Market 
Street  and  had  a  modest  workshop  in  the  yard  adjoin 
ing  his  house.  There  the  little  boy,  who  was  only  nine 


Mf.  1-13.]  BOYHOOD.  31 

years  old,  and  so  small  that  his  fellow- workmen  called    CHAP.  n. 

him  "  not  much  bigger  than  a  last,"  toiled  for  several    jsos^isis. 

months  until  he  could  make  a  tolerable  shoe,  to  his  great 

pride  and  delight.    He  was  much  too  young  and  small 

for  his  task,  however,  and  it  soon  became  evident  that  he 

lacked  the  strength  to  pursue  the  work.     He  always 

retained  a  vivid  recollection  of  the  heavy  lapstone,  on   Lib.  19 : 19. 

which  he  pounded  many  a  sole  until  his  body  ached 

and  his  knees  were  sore  and  tremulous  j  of  the  threads  he 

waxed,  and  the  sore  fingers  he  experienced  from  sewing 

shoes  j  and  not  less  vividly,  but  much  more  gratefully, 

did  he  remember  the  kindness  shown  him  by  his  worthy 

master  and  wife,  in  whose  family  he  lived  during  his 

brief  apprenticeship.    From  their  house  he  witnessed 

the  great  gale  of  September,  1815,  which  made  as  strong 

an  impression  on  his  memory  as  the  great  Newburyport 

fire  of  1811,  which,  when  a  boy  of  five,  he  had  been  held 

up  to  the  window  to  see. 

In  October,  1815,  Mr.  Paul  Newhall,  a  shoe  manufac 
turer  of  Lynn,  decided  to  remove  to  Baltimore,  Mary 
land,  for  the  purpose  of"  establishing  a  factory  there,  and 
he  took  with  him  a  number  of  skilled  workmen,  with 
their  families.  Mrs.  Garrison,  who  was  known  and  be 
loved  by  them  all,  accepted  an  invitation  to  accompany 
them,  taking  her  two  boys  with  her,  and  the  whole  party 
embarked  at  Salem  on  the  ninth  of  that  month  in  the 
brig  Edward,  the  journey  by  land  being  too  formidable 
and  expensive  in  those  days  to  be  thought  of.  The 
voyage  was  a  rough  one,  lasting  twelve  days  j  but  while 
Lloyd  was  so  seasick  that  he  lost  all  desire  to  lead 
a  seafaring  life,  his  mother  proved  herself  a  good 
sailor,  and  kept  a  log  of  their  daily  experiences  in 
true  nautical  phrase.  The  narrative,  which  has  been 
preserved,  is  curiously  interspersed  with  solemn  reflec 
tions  on  the  miseries  of  this  and  the  glories  of  the 
future  life,  and  with  humorous  allusions  to  the  sick 
ness  of  the  passengers  and  the  terror  of  the  women 
when  a  British  sloop-of-war  fired  two  guns  to  make  the 
Edward  haul  to. 


32 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON. 


.  1-13. 


CHAP.  II. 
1805-1818. 


Wm.  New- 
hall,  of 
Salem. 


MS. 

April  1 8, 
1816. 


For  a  while  after  they  reached  Baltimore  she  and  her 
boys  lived  in  Mr.  Newhall's  family,  James  being  again 
apprenticed  at  shoemaking,  and  Lloyd  making  himself 
useful  as  best  he  could  in  doing  errands  and  other  light 
work.  She  had  great  influence  with  the  young  men  em 
ployed  by  Mr.  Newhall,  and  they  came  often  to  see  her, 
and  to  listen  to  the  moral  and  religious  views  with 
which  she  endeavored  to  impress  them.  They  called  her 
"  Mother/'  and  sixty  years  afterwards  the  last  survivor 
of  them  spoke  of  her  in  terms  of  enthusiastic  and  grate 
ful  remembrance. 

The  shoe-factory  proved  a  failure,  and  was  abandoned 
after  a  few  months,  Mr.  Newhall  and  his  men  returning 
to  Lynn.  Mrs.  Garrison  remained  to  take  up  the  work 
of  nursing  again,  and  speedily  won  friends  and  patrons 
among  the  wealthy  residents,  of  whose  elegant  summer  re 
treats  in  the  suburbs  she  wrote  glowing  descriptions.  She 
attended  church  three  times  on  Sunday,  although  she  had 
to  walk  nearly  two  miles  each  time ;  and  before  the  end  of 
her  first  year  in  Baltimore  she  had  established^  women's 
prayer-meeting,  which  met  every  Saturday  afternoon, 
and  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  it  well  attended. 

Trials,  sorrows,  and  disappointments  nevertheless  be 
set  her  path.  Her  son  James,  tired  of  the  awl  and  last, 
ran  away  from  his  master  and  took  to  the  sea,  and  Lloyd 
became  so  homesick  for  Newburyport  that  his  mother 
had  not  the  heart  to  keep  him,  for  she,  too,  longed  for 
the  old  home.  Of  Lloyd  she  wrote  to  Mrs.  Farnham : 

"  He  is  so  discontented  .  .  .  that  he  would  leave  me  to 
morrow  and  go  with  strangers  to  N.  P.  j  he  can't  mention  any 
of  you  without  tears.  He  is  a  fine  boy,  though  he  is  mine,  and 
every  Sunday  he  goes  to  the  Baptist  [church] ,  although  he  has 
so  far  to  walk.  I  expect  lie  will  be  a  complete  Baptist  as  to 
the  tenets.  Mr.  Newhall  does  not  want  to  part  with  him,  and 
Lloyd  likes  very  well,  but  he  longs  to  go  back  and  go  to  school. 
I  do  hope  he  will  always  be  so  steady." 

So  Lloyd  was  sent  back  to  Newburyport,  and  again 
made  his  home  with  the  Bartletts,  doing  what  a  boy 


Mr.  1-13.J  BOYHOOD.  33 

of  ten  or  eleven  years  could  towards  earning  his  board,  CHAP.  11. 
arid  obtaining  a  little  more  (and  what  proved  to  be  his  1805^1818. 
final)  schooling,  at  the  Grammar  School  on  the  Mall.1 
He  was  very  happy  in  this,  and  in  returning  to  the  only 
place  that  had  ever  seemed  like  home  to  him,  but  his 
poor  mother  missed  him  sorely,  and,  as  no  situation 
could  be  found  for  him  in  Newburyport,  she  proposed, 
at  the  end  of  a  year,  that  he  should  return  to  Baltimore. 
Her  hope  of  securing  a  place  for  him  there  was,  however, 
disappointed.  Under  date  of  August  29,  1817,  she  wrote 
to  him  as  follows  : 

MY  DEAR  SON  :  Your  kind  letter  came  safe  to  hand,  and  it  MS. 
afforded  me  comfort.  To  hear  of  your  welfare  adds  to  my 
happiness,  and  receive  my  tender  love  and  affection  for  your 
earnest  solicitude  in  wishing  to  settle  yourself  to  ease  my 
burden.  Your  good  behavior  will  more  than  compensate  for 
all  my  trouble ;  only  let  me  hear  that  you  are  steady  and  go 
not  in  the  way  of  bad  company,  and  my  heart  will  be  hf ted  up 
to  God  for  you,  that  you  may  be  kept  from  the  snares  and 
temptation  of  this  evil  world.  I  have  no  place  at  present  in 
view,  and  being  disappointed  in  placing  you  with  Mr.  Rich 
ards,  I  have  concluded  to  let  you  remain  another  year  at  N.  P. 
If  any  offer  should  occur  in  that  place,  and  Uncle  Bartlett  should 
approve  of  it,  I  should  wish  you  to  accept  it  until  a  door  should 
open  here.  If  there  is  no  place  you  can  get,  don't  think  I  want 
to  force  you  to  a  place  to  live.  I  should  rather  you  would 
remain  at  your  school,  as  I  am  much  pleased  with  your  improve 
ment.  I  am  not  anxious  for  you  to  be  here  at  present  [owing 
to  freshets,  yellow  fever,  etc.] ....  I  have  heard  nothing 
from  James.  I  do  not  know  whether  he  is  dead  or  alive. 

May  God  protect  you  in  all  your  undertaking  !  I  do  long  to 
see  you,  and  my  heart  is  ofttimes  full  when  I  think  of  you,  my 
dear  Lloyd.  Be  a  good  boy  and  God  will  bless  [you] ,  and  you 
have  a  Mother,  although  distant  from  you,  that  loves  you  with 
tenderness.  I  will  do  everything  for  you  I  can  ;  it  will  be  my 
greatest  happiness  to  make  you  happy.  Write  soon  to  her 
who  is  your  tender  and  affectionate 

FRANCES  M.  GARRISON. 

It  is  easy  to  see  what  influence  such  motherly  epistles 
as  these  must  have  had  upon  the  lad  who  was  just  enter- 

1  The  quaint  little  brick  building,  erected  in  1796,  is  still  standing  (1885). 

VOL.  I.— 3 


34 


WILLIAM  LLOYD   GARRISON. 


.  1-13. 


CHAP.  ii.  ing  his  teens,  and  to  understand  the  love  and  reverence 
1805^1818.  in  which  he  ever  held  the  memory  of  his  parent.  "I 
always  feel  like  a  little  boy  when  I  think  of  Mother,"  he 
used  to  say  in  after  years  ;  and  he  never  doubted  that  he 
had  her  strengthening  and  inspiring  influence,  and  her 
constant  approbation,  through  all  his  stormy  career. 
Many  years  after  her  death  he  thus  wrote  of  her  to  his 
betrothed  : 


MS.  June 


Benson. 


"  You  speak  of  '  a  mother's  love,'  and  ask,  '  What  love  is 
comparable  to  hers  ?  '  An  allusion  like  this  dissolves  my  heart, 
and  causes  it  to  grow  liquid  as  water.  I  had  a  mother  once, 
who  cared  for  me  with  such  a  passionate  regard,  who  loved  me 
so  intensely,  that  no  language  can  describe  the  yearnings  of  her 
soul  —  no  instrument  measure  the  circumference  of  her  mater 
nal  spirit.  As  to  her  person,  I  sum  up  my  panegyric  of  it  in 
the  following  original  verse  :  . 

She  was  the  masterpiece  of  womankind  — 

In  shape  and  height  majestically  fine; 
Her  cheeks  the  lily  and  the  rose  combined  ; 

Her  lips  —  more  opulently  red  than  wine; 
Her  raven  locks  hung  tastefully  entwined; 

Her  aspect  fair  as  Nature  could  design: 
And  then  her  eyes!  so  eloquently  bright! 
An  eagle  would  recoil  before  their  light. 

But  she  was  not  remarkable  for  her  personal  attractions 
merely.  Her  mind  was  of  the  first  order  —  clear,  vigorous, 
creative,  and  lustrous,  and  sanctified  by  an  ever-glowing  piety. 
How  often  did  she  watch  over  me  —  weep  over  me  —  and  pray 
over  me  !  (I  hope,  not  in  vain.)  She  has  been  dead  almost 
eleven  years  ;  but  my  grief  at  her  loss  is  as  fresh  and  poignant 
now  as  it  was  at  that  period.  '  0  that  my  mother  were  living  !  ' 
is  often  the  exclamation  of  my  heart.  Alas  !  she  cannot  come 
to  me." 

After  a  time  Lloyd  was  apprenticed  to  Moses  Short,  a 
cabinet-maker  at  Haverhill,  Mass.,  who  took  the  boy  into 
his  family  and  treated  him  with  much  kindness.  The 
work  was  not  unpleasant,  and  he  soon  learned  to 
make  a  toy  bureau  and  helped  at  veneering,  but  his  old 
homesickness  seized  him,  and  he  became  so  unhappy  that, 
at  the  end  of  six  weeks,  he  resolved  to  make  his  escape. 
Watching  his  opportunity,  one  morning  when  his  master 
had  gone  to  the  shop,  he  tied  his  shirt  and  other  worldly 


JEff.  1-13.J  BOYHOOD.  35 

possessions  in  a  handkerchief,  threw  the  bundle  down  CHAP.  n. 
among  the  pumpkin- vines  from  his  window,  and  then,  1805^1818. 
going  down  and  recovering  it,  started  for  Newburyport 
on  foot.  He  had  calculated  the  time  it  would  take  him 
to  cross  the  loftg  bridge  ;  and  when  the  daily  stage-coach 
overtook  him  he  seized  the  rack  behind,  and  ran  and 
swung  himself  by  turns  to  facilitate  his  progress.  When 
the  stage  paused  at  a  stopping-place,  he  trudged  on  until 
it  again  came  along,  and  then  repeated  the  operation,  in 
this  way  accomplishing  several  miles.  The  passengers 
in  the  coach,  meanwhile,  were  wondering  how  so  small  a 
lad  could  keep  up  with  it.  But  the  fugitive  was  missed 
at  Haverhill,  and,  as  he  was  wont  to  tell  the  story  in 
after  years,  his  master  took  a  short  cut  by  which  he 
saved  time  and  distance  over  the  stage-road,  and  re 
captured  his  apprentice.  He  bore  him  no  ill-will,  how 
ever,  and,  when  Lloyd  confessed  his  homesickness, 
promised  to  release  him  if  he  would  only  return  to 
Haverhill  and  take  his  leave  in  a  regular  and  proper 
manner,  so  that  neither  of  them  should  be  compromised. 
He  kept  his  word,  and  Lloyd  again  took  up  his  abode 
at  Deacon  Bartlettfs. 

In  a  letter  written  to  James  by  his  mother,  about  this 
time,  she  said, — "  I  am  trying  to  get  Lloyd  a  place  as  MS. 
house  Cfarpenter  ?],  as  he  does  not  incline  to  go  into  a 
store.  His  reason  is  this :  he  says  unless  he  has  a  capital 
when  he  is  out  of  his  time,  he  will  not  be  able  to  com 
mence  business,  but  if  he  has  a  trade,  he  can  go  to  work 
and  help  maintain  his  M[other] :  a  very  good  resolve 
for  a  child  of  fourteen." 

Repeated  efforts  were  made  to  find  a  situation  for 
him,  but  without  success  until  the  autumn  of  1818, 
when  Mr.  Ephraim  W.  Allen,  editor  and  proprietor  of 
the  Newburyport  (semi-weekly)  Herald,  wishing  a  boy 
to  learn  the  printer's  trade,  Lloyd  was  presented  as  a 
candidate  for  the  place  and  accepted ;  and,  having  been 
duly  apprenticed  for  the  usual  term  of  seven  years, 
entered  the  printing-office  of  the  Herald  on  the  18th 
of  October,  1818. 


CHAPTER  III. 

APPRENTICESHIP. — 1818-1825. 


•  fTlHE  boy  had  not  been  many  days  in  the  printing-office 
1818-1825.  _l_  before  he  was  convinced  that  he  had  at  last  found 
his  right  place  ;•  but  his  first  feeling  was  one  of  discour 
agement  as  he  watched  the  rapidity  with  which  the 
speech  at  compositors  set  and  distributed  the  types.  "My  little 
given* ly  heart  sank  like  lead  within  me,"  he  afterwards  said. 
cfBos-  "Jt  seemed  to  me  that  I  never  should  be  able  to  do 
to%?*8'  I4>  anvthing  °f  the  kind.  However,  I  was  put  to  learn  the 
different  boxes  and  to  ascertain  where  the  capitals  and 
small  capitals  were  placed,  and,  in  the  lower  case,  how 
the  types  were  diversified,  and  very  soon  learned  the 
whole."  From  that  time  on  throughout  his  life  it  was  a 
delight,  and,  as  he  used  to  express  it,  "  a  positive  recrea 
tion/7  to  him  to  manipulate  the  types  ;  and  the  last  time 
that  he  ever  handled  the  composing-stick  was  in  that 
same  Herald  office,  just  sixty  years  from  the  day  on 
which  he  had  first  entered  it  as  an  apprentice.  He  was 
so  short  at  first,  that  when  he  undertook  to  work  off 
proofs  he  had  to  stand  on  a  fifty-six-pound  weight  in 
order  to  reach  the  table.  He  quickly  grew  expert  and 
accurate  as  a  compositor,  and  was  much  liked  and 
trusted  by  his  master,  of  whose  family  he  now  became 
a  member,  according  to  the  custom  with  apprentices  in 
those  days.  As  Mr.  Allen's  house  was  close  by  Deacon 
Bartlett's,  on  Summer  Street,  the  boy  was  still  near  his 
old  friend  and  protector,  and  he  became  very  happy  in 


.  13-20.] 


APPRENTICESHIP. 


37 


his  new  home,  caring  for  the  younger  children  of  the  CHAP.  in. 
family  as  if  he  were  an  elder  brother,  and  making  him-  1818^1825. 
self  always  helpful. 

His  mother  was  not  yet  fully  reconciled  to  his  remain 
ing  in  Newburyport,  and  again  suggested  his  joining 
her  in  Baltimore  during  the  following  spring;  but  she  1819. 
left  it  wholly  optional  with  him.  He  decided  to  remain 
in  the  printing-office,  much  to  her  disappointment, 
though  she  approved  his  choice.  On  May  5,  1819,  she 
wrote  him : 

"All  things  considered,  I  think  you  have  acted  wisely  in  MS. 
staying  and  learning  your  trade.  Your  dear  Sister  must  have 
felt  the  loss  of  your  company,  and  your  prospect  here  was  not 
the  best,  although  you  might  have  had  a  chance  of  doing  well. 
You  was  to  have  nothing  here  but  your  board.  I  was  to  have 
found  you  all  your  clothes,  mending  and  washing,  &c.,  and  if 
my  life  should  not  be  prolonged  (perhaps  I  shall  not  live)  you 
will  be  among  your  dear  N.  P.  [friends] .  Was  you  here,  if 
such  a  thing  should  take  place,  you  might  be  led  astray  by 
bad  company,  which  may  God  grant  that  you  never  may.  .  .  . 

"  Thank  you  for  your  kindness  respe^ng  the  balsam  of 
Quito.  There  is  none  of  it  here,  and  I  wish  for  nothing  more 
than  the  balm  of  Gilead,  the  great  Physician  of  Souls,  to  heal 
the  wounds  that  sin  has  made.  ...  I  should  like  to  have 
Mr.  Allen  specify  in  writing  what  he  intends  to  do.  He  is 
very  partial  to  you  and  says  he  never  had  a  better  boy.  Once 

more  adieu,  mav  Heaven  bless  vc-u  and  mv  dear  M.  E."  Maria. 

Elizabeth. 

The  allusion  to  the  Balsam  of  Quito  which  Lloyd  had 
recommended  to  her  betrays,  even  at  that  early  day,  a 
faith  in  advertised  remedies  which  was  ever  character 
istic  of  him.  His  mother's  letter  was  written  under  much 
depression  of  spirits,  after  months  of  illness  which  had 
greatly  shattered  her.  Five  months  later  she  wrote  him  Oct.  5, 1819. 
of  the  terrible  ravages  which  the  yellow  fever  was  then 
making  in  Baltimore,  and  of  the  happy  fortune  which 
had  kept  him  in  Newburyport  and  deterred  him  from 
joining  her  in  the  spring ;  for  the  youth  who  had  taken 
his  place  had  fallen  a  victim  to  the  fever,  with  seventeen 
others  in  the  same  house  or  neighborhood.  "  A  fierce 


38  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKRISON.  [^T.  13-20. 


MS.  terror  has  entered  Baltimore/'  she  wrote,  "  and  has  re 
moved  hundreds  in  a  week  with  the  yellow  fever.  The 
countenances  of  the  citizens  wear  a  solemn  gloom. 
(Every  one  imagines  that  'I  may  be  next.')  Days  of 
fasting  and  prayer  are  daily  appointed  through  all  the 
city.  The  youth,  the  aged,  and  the  middle-aged  are  cut 
down  in  a  few  hours,  raving  like  wild  creatures,  —  no 
sense  of  this  world  or  any  other  until  they  appear  before 
the  Judgment." 

She  herself  fled  with  the  multitude  into  the  country, 
and  while  there  was  called  to  attend  Mrs.  Dorsey,  a 
daughter  of  Timothy  Pickering,  in  her  last  illness.  "  I 
lost  a  dear  friend  in  her,"  she  wrote.1  Returning  to  the 
city  in  the  fall,  she  again  fell  sick  and  was  confined  to 
the  house  for  months,  and  she  only  rallied  from  one 
attack  to  succumb  to  another,  so  that  her  letters  for 
the  next  three  years  are  mainly  a  record  of  the  con 
stant  inroads  which  disease  was  making  upon  her. 
Much  of  the  time  she  was  dependent  upon  the  charity 
of  friends,  of  whom  she  seems  never  to  have  known 
a  lack,  and  all  necessary  care  and  attendance  were 
constantly  assured  to  her.  A  severe  hemorrhage  of 
the  lungs  in  the  spring  of  1820  nearly  proved  fatal 
to  her,  and  she  experienced  much  agony  of  mind  at 
the  thought  of  leaving  her  children  alone  and  unpro 
vided  for. 

MS.,  May  "  Thank  God,"  she  wrote  to  Lloyd  in  her  convalescence,  "  I 
am  well  taken  care  of,  for  both  Black  and  White  are  all  atten 
tion  to  me,  and  I  have  every  thing  done  that  is  necessary.  The 
ladies  are  all  kind  to  me,  and  I  have  a  Coloured  woman  that 
waits  on  me,  that  is  so  kind  no  one  can  tell  how  kind  she  is, 
and  although  a  Slave  to  Man,  yet  a  free  born  soul,  by  the 
grace  of  God.  Her  name  is  Henny,  and  should  I  never  see  you 
again,  and  you  should  ever  come  where  she  is,  remember  her 
for  your  poor  mother's  sake." 

l  See  '  Life  of  Timothy  Pickering,'  4  :  319,  for  a  letter  from  Mrs.  Picker 
ing  to  Mrs.  Garrison  on  this  event. 


^ET.  13-20.]  APPRENTICESHIP.  39 

In  a  pathetic  letter  to  her  daughter  she  contrasts  the  CHAP.  HI. 
happiness  of  her  early  life  with  the  sorrows  which  later    xsis^s. 
years  have  brought  her: 

"  At  an  early  period  of  life  I  was  surrounded  with  every  com-  MS.,  May 
fort  that  was  necessary,  nurtured  with  peculiar  care  and  ten 
derness  in  the  bosom  of  parental  affection,  blessed  with  the 
friendship  of  an  extensive  acquaintance,  and  beloved  by  all 
my  relations.  I  had  enough  to  attach  me  to  this  world.  Gay 
and  thoughtless,  vain  and  wild,  I  looked  forward  for  nothing 
but  pleasure  and  happiness,  but  alas !  have  not  my  subsequent 
years  taught  me  that  all  was  visionary  ?  How  has  the  rude 
blast  of  misfortunes  burst  over  my  head,  and  had  it  not  been 
for  an  overruling  Providence,  I  must  have  sunk  under  their 
pressure.  I  was  taught  to  see  that  all  my  dreams  of  happiness 
in  this  life  were  chimerical  j  the  efforts  we  make  here  are  all  of 
them  imbecility  in  themselves  and  illusive,  but  religion  is  per 
ennial.  It  fortifies  the  mind  to  support  trouble,  elevates  the 
affections  of  the  heart,  and  its  perpetuity  has  no  end." 

Anxious  to  see  Elizabeth  settled  in  a  good  home 
before  she  herself  should  pass  away,  her  mother  sent 
for  the  little  girl,  then  only  twelve  years  old,  and 
scarcely  less  reluctant  to  leave  her  Newburyport  friends 
than  Lloyd  had  been.  She  made  the  voyage  to  Balti 
more  without  any  friend  accompanying  her,  and  for  the 
next  two  years  was  with  or  near  her  mother,  assisting  in 
the  care  of  the  latter  during  her  more  severe  illnesses, 
and  at  one  time  "going  to  live  in  the  capacity  of  a 
servant  with  a  v&ry  worthy  woman."  She  was  a  remark 
ably  sweet,  affectionate,  and  conscientious  child,  with  a 
deep  spiritual  nature,  and  readily  imbibed  her  mother's 
strong  religious  feelings.  When,  immediately  on  her 
arrival  in  Baltimore,  she  was  prostrated  by  a  severe 
illness  from  which  recovery  seemed  impossible,  she  faced 
death  with  remarkable  composure,  comforted  her  dis 
tracted  mother,  sent  cheerful  messages  to  her  brother 
and  other  friends,  "  prayed  most  sweetly,  to  the  admira 
tion  of  ministers  and  people  that  visited  her/'  and  joined 
her  "feeble  voice  with  theirs  in  singing  a  consoling  hymn. 


40 


WILLIAM  LLOYD  GAKRISON. 


.  13-20. 


CHAP.    III. 
1818-1825. 


MS.,  Sept. 
13,  1880. 


Speech  at 
Dinner 
given  by 
Franklin 
Club,  Bos 
ton,  Oct.  14, 
1878. 


Letters  passed  between  Lloyd  and  his  mother  and 
sister  much  less  frequently  than  the  boy  wished,  and 
when  he  playfully  chided  the  latter  for  not  writing 
oftener,  and  asked  if  "  the  splendour  of  the  city "  had 
not  engrossed  her  attention,  she  replied,  "  It  is  not  so. 
It  is  the  expense  that  you  have  to  pay,  for  we  are  not 
able  to  do  it  "j  and  certainly  postage  was  a  circumstance 
in  those  days,  every  letter  costing  twenty-five  cents, 
which  the  apprentice-boy,  who  was  receiving  little  more 
than  his  board  and  clothes,  had  to  pay.  Even  his 
clothes  seem  to  have  been  partly  supplied  by  his  mother, 
who  sent  him  at  one  time  a  trunkful  of  garments 
which  she  had  managed  to  gather  and  prepare  for  him 
in  her  intervals  of  convalescence,  and  begged  him  to 
keep  them  for  her  sake,  as  the  last  token  of  love  she 
should  ever  be  able  to  send  him. 

Meanwhile,  Lloyd  was  devoting  himself  with  diligence 
and  enthusiasm  to  his  trade,  and  had  become  so  expert 
and  thorough  in  all  departments  of  the  business  that 
Mr.  Allen  made  him  foreman  of  the  office.  One  of  his 
fellow-apprentices  (Joseph  B.  Morss,  of  Newburyport) 
wrote  of  him  thus : 

"  He  made  up  the  pages  of  the  newspaper  and  prepared  the 
forms  for  the  press.  He  also  attended  to  the  job-work,  and 
was  noted  for  his  good  taste  in  this  department.  He  was  the 
most  rapid  compositor  I  ever  knew,  excepting  one,  and  more 
correct  than  this  one.  With  fair  copy  before  him  he  would 
easily  set  a  thousand  ems  an  hour  for  several  successive  hours, 
and  there  would  hardly  ever  be  more  than  two  or  three  slight 
errors  in  a  column  of  his  matter,  when  it  was  proved.  He  was 
an  excellent  pressman  on  the  old  Ramage  and  the  then  new 
Wells  iron  press." 

In  recalling  his  apprenticeship  days  in  after  years, 
Mr.  Garrison  said : 

"  I  always  endeavored  to  do  my  work  thoroughly,  if  I  could, 
without  any  errors,  and  therefore  my  proofs  were  very  clean, 
as  the  technical  phrase  is.  I  recollect  with  great  pleasure  one 
who  was  in  the  office  for  a  considerable  portion  of  my  appren 
ticeship,  who  has  now  gone  to  his  reward,  who  was,  I  think,  a 


13-20.] 


APPEENTICESHIP. 


41 


journeyman  at  that  time;  but  who,  by  his  beautiful  spirit  and 
fine  example,  had  a  great  influence  upon  my  mind  j  and  I  feel 
grateful  to  him  and  shall  ever  cherish  his  memory  with  deep 
feeling.  I  allude  to  the  late  Rev.  Tobias  H.  Miller,  a  city  mis 
sionary  in  Portsmouth. 

"  My  acquaintance  with  him  began  when  I  entered  the  office 
of  the  Newburyport  Herald  as  an  apprentice  to  learn  the  '  art 
and  mystery'  of  printing;  and  great  was  my  indebtedness  to 
him  in  regard  to  my  initiation  and  on  the  score  of  never- 
failing  kindness.  I  was  drawn  to  him  magnetically  from  the 
beginning  ,  and  whether  working  side  by  side  at  the  case  or 
the  press,  unbroken  friendship  subsisted  between  us  to  the 
end.  Indeed,  so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  it  would  have  been 
extremely  difficult  for  the  most  irascible  to  have  picked  a  quar 
rel  with  him.  He  had  wonderful  self-command,  patience, 
cheerfulness,  urbanity,  and  philosophic  composure,  far  beyond 
his  years.  I  never  saw  him  out  of  temper  for  a  moment  under 
the  most  trying  circumstances,  (and  a  printing-office  often 
presents  such,)  nor  cast  down  by  any  disappointment,  nor 
disposed  to  borrow  trouble  of  the  future.  He  was  a  very 
Benjamin  Franklin  for  good  sense  and  axiomatic  speech,  and 
in  spirit  always  as  fresh  and  pure  as  a  newly  -blown  rose.  In 
his  daily  walk  and  conversation  he  was  a  pattern  of  upright 
ness,  and  from  his  example  I  drew  moral  inspiration,  and 
was  signally  aided  in  my  endeavors  after  ideal  perfection  and 
practical  goodness.  His  nature  was  large,  generous,  sympa 
thetic,  self-denying,  reverent.  He  was  as  true  to  his  highest 
convictions  of  duty  as  the  needle  to  the  pole.  No  one  was 
ever  more  yielding  in  the  matter  of  accommodation  where  no 
principle  was  involved  ;  none  more  inflexible  in  pursuit  of  the 
right.  .  .  . 

"  Among  my  pleasant  recollections  of  him  in  the  printing- 
office,  are  the  following  sententious  expressions,  which  fre 
quently  came  from  his  lips,  as,  for  example,  in  case  of  a 
shockingly  bad  proof  to  be  corrected  at  midnight,  or  of  a  pied 
form,  or  of  any  other  trying  mishap  :—  '  Patience  and  persever 
ance  !  '  '  'Tisn't  as  bad  as  it  would  be  if  it  were  worse  !  '  '  Never 
mind  !  'Twill  be  all  the  same  a  thousand  years  hence  !  '  How 
literally  and  admirably  did  he  enter  into  the  spirit  of  those  say 
ings,  though  possessing  a  most  sensitive  temperament  !  They 
made  a  deep  impression  upon  my  memory,  and  through  all  the 
subsequent  years  of  my  life,  in  all  cases  of  trial,  have  been  of 
invaluable  service  to  me." 


CHAP.  in. 

I8l8~82 


Letter  to 
,  Apr. 


Portsmouth 

(ff.  H-) 

May  31, 


42  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GAKKISON.  [^T.  13-20. 


CHAP.  in.  Lloyd  early  evinced  a  taste  for  poetry,  and  was  fond 
1818^1825.  of  works  of  fiction  and  romance.  He  delighted  in  the 
Waverley  Novels.  His  favorite  poets  at  that  time  were 
Byron,  Moore,  Pope,  Campbell,  and  Scott,  and,  over 
and  above  all  these,  Mrs.  Hemans,  whose  writings  he 
knew  by  heart  j  and  when  he  subsequently  published  a 
paper  of  his  own,  there  was  scarcely  an  issue  which  did 
not  contain  one  of  her  poems.  It  was  natural  that  in 
such  a  stronghold  of  the  Federalists  as  Newburyport 
still  was  (though  the  party  had  ceased  to  have  a  national 
existence),  and  with  party  feeling  throughout  the  State 
running  so  high  at  each  annual  election,  he  should  also 
take  an  interest  in  politics,  and,  imbibing  the  prevailing 
sentiment  of  his  locality,  become  an  ardent  Federalist. 
He  studied  the  writings  of  Fisher  Ames,  and  was  a 
fervent  admirer  of  Timothy  Pickering  and  Harrison 
Gray  Otis.  While  yet  in  his  teens  he  wielded  his  pen 
in  defence  of  the  two  latter  when  they  were  under 
fire  and  their  political  fortunes  under  a  cloud  5  but  his 
first  attempt  at  writing  for  the  press  was  not  in  a  polit 
ical  direction.  In  May,  1822,  he  wrote,  in  a  disguised 
hand,  and  sent  through  the  post-office  his  first  communi- 
May  21,  cation  to  the  Herald,  under  the  nom  de  guerre  of  "An 
Old  Bachelor."  It  was  entitled  "  Breach  of  the  Marriage 
Promise,"  and  professed  to  be  the  reflections  of  a  bachelor 
on  reading  the  recent  verdict  in  a  breach  of  promise  case 
in  Boston,  by  which  a  young  man  who  ha'd  "  kept  com 
pany  "  with  a  girl  for  two  years  and  then  refused  to 
marry  her,  was  fined  seven  hundred  and  fifty  dollars. 
While  freely  conceding  that  any  man  who  had  actually 
broken  an  express  promise  should  "  feel  the  effects  of 
the  law  in  a  heavy  degree,"  he  maintained  that  the  mere 
fact  of  a  man's  having  "  kept  company  with,"  or  paid 
attentions  to,  one  of  the  opposite  sex  for  a  year  or 
two,  was  not  conclusive  evidence  of  a  promise  or  en 
gagement,  but  rather  indicated  that  he  desired  to  be 
assured  of  the  wisdom  of  his  choice  before  taking  such 
a  momentous  step  as  matrimony  involved  j  and  the 


1 

JET.  13-20.]  APPKENTICESHIP.  43 

"  old  bachelor  "  of  sixteen  then  discoursed  in  this  cynical  CHAP.  in. 
fashion :  1818^825. 

"  The  truth  is,  however,  women  in  this  country  are  too  much       N.  P. 
idolized  and  nattered;  therefore  they  are  puffed  up  and  in-      jj/2^' 
flated  with  pride  and  self-conceit.     They  make  the  men  to        1822. 
crouch,  beseech,  and  supplicate,  wait  upon  and  do  every  menial 
service  for  them  to  gain  their  favor  and  approbation ;  they  are, 
in  fact,  completely  subservient  to  every  whim  and  caprice  of 
these  changeable  mortals.    Women  generally  feel  then-  impor 
tance,  and  they  use  it  without  mercy. 

"  For  my  part,  notwithstanding,  I  am  determined  to  lead  the 
t  single  life '  and  not  trouble  myself  about  the  ladies." 

Lloyd  was  at  work  at  the  case  when  his  master  re 
ceived  and  opened  this  youthful  production,  and  he 
awaited  anxiously  the  verdict  as  to  its  acceptance.  It 
happened  to  strike  Mr.  Allen's  fancy,  and  after  reading 
it  aloud  for  the  edification  of  others  in  the  office,  he  un 
suspectingly  handed  it  to  its  author  to  put  in  type,  and 
it  filled  nearly  a  column  of  the  Herald.  Elated  by  this 
first  success,  the  boy  wrote  a  second  communication  in  a 
similar  vein,  which  appeared  three  days  later;  and  a  May 24, 
week  after  this  he  furnished  a  highly  imaginative  account 
of  a  shipwreck,  which  was  so  palpably  the  work  of  one 
innocent  of  the  sea  and  of  ships  as  to  make  its  acceptance 
rather  surprising ;  but  the  editor  was  probably  equally 
innocent,  if  many  of  his  seafaring  patrons  and  readers 
were  not.  The  signature  appended  to  this  article  was 
abbreviated  to  the  initials  "  A.  O.  B.,"  which  mark  most 
of  his  subsequent  articles  for  the  Herald.  He  still, 
and  for  nearly  the  whole  of  the  ensuing  year,  concealed 
his  authorship,  although  his  master  was  so  well  pleased 
with  the  communications  of  his  unknown  correspondent 
that  he  wrote  him  through  the  post-office  requesting  him 
to  continue  them,  and  expressing  a  desire  for  an  inter 
view  with  him. 

To  his  mother  alone  did  Lloyd  confide  his  secret,  and 
she  received  it  with  mingled  pride  and  misgiving,  as 
appears  by  the  following  letter,  dated  July  1,  1822.  She 


WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAKRISON.  [^T.  13-20. 

had  then  been  confined  to  her  room  for  ten  months,  and, 
after  describing  her  helpless  condition, — unable  to  dress 
without  assistance,  "living  on  the  charity  of  friends/' 
and  "  feeling  at  times  all  the  sensations  of  mortified 
pride," — telling  Lloyd  how  his  kind  attention  to  her  and 
his  good  behavior  cheered  her  drooping  spirits,  and  ex 
horting  him  to  learn  his  trade  and  be  master  of  his  busi 
ness,  she  goes  on  to  say : 

MS.  "  I  have  had  iny  mind  exercised  on  your  account,  and  please 

to  let  me  know  the  particulars  in  your  next.  You  write  me 
word  that  you  have  written  some  pieces  for  the  Herald.  Anon 
ymous  writers  generally  draw  the  opinion  of  the  publick  on 
their  writing,  and  frequently  are  lampoon'd  by  others.  If  Mr. 
Allen  approves  of  it,  why,  you  have  nothing  to  fear,  but  I  hope 
you  consulted  him  on  the  publication  of  them.  I  am  pleased, 
myself,  with  the  idea,  provided  that  nothing  wrong  should  re 
sult  from  it.  You  must  write  me  one  of  your  pieces  so  that  I 
can  read  [it]  on  one  side  of  your  letter,  and  I  will  give  you  my 
opinion  whether  you  are  an  old  bachelor,  or  whether  you  are 
A.  0.  B.,  as  A  may  stand  for  Ass,  and  0  for  Oaf,  and  B  for 
Blockhead.  Adieu,  my  dear.  You  will  think  your  Mother  is 
quizzing.  Your  dear  Mother  until  death." 

N.  P.  In  July  he  contributed  two  articles  respecting  South 

Sytffcutd,  American  affairs,  in  which  he  expressed  astonishment 
19, 1822.  an(j  indignation  that  the  young  republics  of  that  coun 
try,  after  receiving  the  sympathies  and  ardent  wishes  of 
the  United  States  for  their  success,  during  their  long 
struggle  with  Spain,  should  now  countenance  such  out 
rages  as  had  been  committed  at  Valparaiso  and  Lima  on 
American  vessels  and  their  captains,  by  enforcing  various 
extortionate  demands  upon  them.  He  declared  that  the 
United  States  Government  should  authorize  the  com 
manders  of  its  ships  of  war  in  South  American  ports  to 
obtain  redress  for  the  wrongs  done  American  citizens. 
"  The  only  expedient  to  command  respect  and  protect  our 
citizens  will  be  to  finish  with  cannon  what  cannot  be 
done  in  a  conciliatory  and  equitable  manner,  where  justice 
demands  such  proceedings."  And  after  hoping  that  the 
South  Americans  would  "  soon  learn  to  prize  the  bless- 


.  13-20.  J 


APPEENTICESHIP. 


45 


ings  of  freedom  and  independence  in  a  correct  manner,"  CHAP.  m. 
he  advised  them  to  "  take  the  United  States  as  a  fair  and  1818^825. 
beautiful  model  by  which  to  govern  the  affairs  of  their 
country — a  model  which  no  other  nation  under  heaven 
can  boast  its  equal,  for  correctness  of  sound  republican 
principles  and  wise  and  judicious  administration : —  let 
them  take  this,  we  repeat,  as  an  example,  and  then  can 
we  cordially  and  joyfully  hail  them  as  freemen  —  while 
Liberty's  bright  and  glorious  beams  would  shine  with 
redoubled  splendor  over  their  land,  and  dispel  every  cloud 
of  tyranny  and  civil  discord." 

It  is  evident  from  this  sophomoric  burst  of  patriotic 
eloquence  that  the  boy  knew  and  had  thought  no  more 
about  slavery  than  about  war,  at  that  time,  and  little 
suspected  how  far  his  country  was  from  being  a  model 
republic.  Nor  did  he  gain  wisdom  or  inspiration  from 
those  about  him.  Caleb  Gushing  had  then  an  editorial 
connection  with  the  Herald,  and  to  him  may  safely  be 
ascribed  the  authorship  of  two  editorials  which  appeared 
in  the  paper  within  this  same  month.  The  first,  in  re 
cording  the  recent  suppression  of  a  slave  insurrection  in 
Charleston,  S.  C.,  and  expressing  a  fear  that  the  United 
States  would  yet  see  another  San  Domingo,  looked  to 
the  future  with  despair  and  dread,  because  immediate  or 
gradual  colonization  seemed  to  the  writer  hopeless  and 
impossible,  and  gradual  emancipation  improbable  and 
impracticable.  Three  weeks  later,  the  writer  maintained 
that  the  holding  of  slaves  was  not  subversive  of  repub 
lican  habits,  as  men  who  see  others  deprived  of  the  bless 
ings  of  freedom  must  learn  more  highly  to  apprize  its 
enjoyments  themselves !  And  yet  he  admitted  the  de 
moralizing  effects  of  slavery  upon  the  slaveholders,  and 
that  "  there  can  never  be  so  much  purity,  decorum,  ex 
actness  and  moderation  in  the  morals  of  a  people  among 
whom  slaves  abound." 

This  is  a  fair  specimen  of  the  hopeless,  aimless, 
manner  in  which  slavery  was  discussed  or  referred  to  at 
the  North  after  the  Missouri  Compromise  of  1820  had 


N.  P. 
Herald, 
July  12, 

1822. 


N.  P. 

Herald, 

August  2, 

1822. 


46  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GARKISON.  [^T.  13-20. 


CHAP.  HI.  practically  pledged  the  free  States  against  any  further 
1818^1825.  reopening  of  the  question,  and  sealed  their  complicity  in 
the  maintenance  and  protection  of  the  accursed  institu 
tion.  While  that  measure  was  pending,  John  Quincy 
Adams,  then  Secretary  of  State,  lamented  the  fatality  by 
which  all  the  most  eloquent  orators  were  found  on  the 
pro-slavery  side. 

JMemoi?'of       "  T^ere  1S>"  ^e  wrote?  "  a  great  mass  of  cool  judgment  and 

J.Q.Adams,   of   plain  sense  on   the   side  of   freedom  and  humanity,  but 

p.  102.  .    the  ardent  spirits  and  passions  are  on  the  side  of  oppression. 

0  !  if  but  one  man  could  arise  with  a  genius  capable  of  com 

prehending,  a  heart  capable  of  supporting,  and  an  utterance 

capable  of  communicating  those  eternal  truths  which  belong 

to  the  question,  —  to  lay  bare  in  all  its  nakedness  that  outrage 

upon  the  goodness  of  God,  human  slavery,  —  now  is  the  time, 

and  this  is  the  occasion,  upon  which  such  a  man  would  perform 

the  duties  of  an  angel  upon  earth." 

The  Massachusetts  statesman  who  confided  this  fervent 
wish  to  his  diary  and  then,  as  Cabinet  minister,  gave  his 
assent  to  the  Compromise,  was  clearly  not  the  man  for 
the  occasion,  and  he  little  dreamed  that  the  one  he  sighed 
for  was  even  then,  in  his  own  State  of  Massachusetts, 
mastering  the  use  of  the  weapon  with  which,  a  decade 
later,  he  was  to  startle  and  arouse  a  guilty  nation. 
Neither  did  he  recognize  and  welcome  him  when  the 
tocsin  of  the  Liberator  convulsed  the  South  with  terror, 
and  proclaimed  the  beginning  of  the  end  of  slavery.  As 
little  did  Caleb  Cushing  suspect  that  the  apprentice-boy 
who  put  his  editorials  in  type,  and  in  whom,  as  a 
bright  and  promising  lad,  he  took  a  friendly  interest,  was 
destined  to  prove  his  assertion  that  colonization  was  im 
possible,  and  gradual  emancipation  impracticable,  and  to 
show  the  only  right  and  safe  way  to  cure  a  gigantic  evil. 
And  no  more  did  the  boy  himself  realize  for  what  work 
he  was  marked  out.1 

l"He  knew  not  that  his  chosen  hand, 
Made  strong  by  God,  his  native  land 
Would  rescue  from  the  shameful  yoke 
Of  Slavery  —  the  which  he  broke!" 

(Coleridge,  after  Stolberg's  "Tell's  Birthplace.") 


.  13-20.] 


APPEENTICESHIP. 


47 


For  the  next  two  years  current  politics  chiefly  were 
the  theme  of  his  anonymous  contributions  to  the  press. 
In  March  and  April,  1823,  under  the  signature  of  "  One 
of  the  People/'  he  wrote  three  articles  for  the  Herald 
under  the  title  of  "  Our  Next  Governor/7  and  warmly 
advocated  the  election  of  Harrison  Gray  Otis,  as  one  who, 
in  the  numerous  positions  which  he  had  already  occupied, 
had  "  conferred  lasting  honor  on  Massachusetts,  being 
one  of  the  brightest  constellations  in  her  political  hori 
zon."  His  final  article  was  one  of  glowing  panegyric  of 
Otis,  and  impassioned  appeal  to  his  "  fellow-electors  "  to 
rally  to  the  polls.  "  Upon  you,  then,  fellow- electors, 
much  is  depending — the  liberties  of  the  people  !  And  on 
Monday  next  arise  in  the  greatness  of  your  might,  and 
cease  not  from  the  most  strenuous  exertions  till  you 
repose  in  the  lap  of  victory  !  " 

In  spite  of  this  eloquence,  Otis  was  defeated  by  Eustis, 
the  Democratic  candidate,  to  the  intense  disgust  of  his 
youthful  advocate,  who  next  turned  his  attention  to 
foreign  politics.  Under  the  title  of  "A  Glance  at  Eu 
rope,"  and  under  his  old  signature  of  "A.  O.  B.,"  he 
contributed  in  April  and  May  three  articles,  remarkably 
well  written  for  a  boy  of  seventeen,  on  the  "  mad  project 
of  France,  backed  by  the  Holy  Alliance,  in  attempting  to 
restore  Ferdinand  of  Spain  to  his  throne,  .  .  .  and 
subjugating  the  people  into  an  ill-timed  acquiescence." 
A  single  passage  from  the  second  article  shows  that  even 
at  that  early  age  he  had  acquired  the  vigor  of  charac 
terization  and  power  of  invective  which  were  afterwards 
to  be  used  against  domestic  tyranny : 

"  The  Holy  Alliance,  from  its  first  formation,  has  met  through 
out  Europe  and  America  with  that  general  burst  of  indignation 
which  it  justly  merits.  It  is  the  grand  engine  of  destruction  by 
which  to  extirpate  the  rights  and  privileges  of  nations,  and  to 
dig  up  and  destroy  the  seeds  which  Liberty  has  planted.  It  is 
a  Royal  Banditti,  leagued  together  for  the  unhallowed  purpose 
of  robbing  the  world  of  its  richest  treasure,  and  placing  in  its 
stead  the  sceptre  of  tyranny.  It  is  a  combination  of  military 
despots,  brought  together  and  cemented  with  the  atrocious  in- 


CHAP.  in. 

1818-1825. 


March  14, 
and  April  i 
and  4,  1823. 


Wm.Eustis. 


N.P. 

Herald, 
April  22, 
May  2  and 

16,  1823. 


N.P. 

Herald, 

May  2, 1823. 


48 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON. 


[.Ex.  13-20. 


CHAP.   III. 
1818-1825. 


1822. 


N.  P. 
Herald, 
April  22, 

1823. 


MS.  to 
W.  L.  G., 

March  24, 
1823. 


tention  of  shackling  the  fairest  portions  of  the  globe  with  man 
acles  that  ages  cannot  decay  or  sever.  Such  is  this  self-styled 
Holy  Alliance, — but  which  has  stamped  an  indelible  stigma 
upon  a  name  so  sacred, —  with  such  unrighteous  views  was  it 
formed." 

In  the  previous  month  of  December,  Mr.  Allen  had 
gone  to  Mobile  for  the  winter,  leaving  Lloyd  in  charge 
of  the  office,  while  Mr.  Gushing  attended  to  the  editorial 
conduct  of  the  Herald,  and  it  was  the  latter  who  now 
first  discovered  that  the  author  of  these  and  previous 
articles  under  the  same  signature  was  no  other  than  Mr. 
Allen's  senior  apprentice.  He  instantly  commended  and 
encouraged  him,  lending  him  books,  and  calling  atten 
tion  editorially  to  the  papers  on  the  Holy  Alliance,  "  in 
which,"  he  said,  "  we  recognize  the  hand  of  a  correspond 
ent  who  at  different  times  has  favored  us  with  a  number 
of  esteemed  and  valuable  contributions.7'  It  is  probable 
that  the  boy's  interest  in  European  affairs  was  largely 
due  to  Mr.  Gushing  himself,  who  had  written,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  year,  a  series  of  articles  for  the  Herald, 
giving  a  resume  of  the  political  situation  and  outlook  at 
home  and  abroad. 

Circumstances  now  arose  to  prevent  Lloyd's  writing 
further  for  the  press  for  a  considerable  period.  In 
September,  1822,  his  sister  Elizabeth  had  died  in  Balti 
more,  leaving  the  mother  bereft  and  desolate,  and  in 
March,  1823,  the  latter  wrote  and  earnestly  entreated  her 
son  to  come  and  see  her  before  she,  too,  should  pass 
away.  She  had  then  been  confined  to  her  bed  for 
several  weeks  and  felt  that  her  end  was  near : 

"  I  trust,"  she  wrote,  "  I  have  no  one  in  N.  P.  that  would  say 
one  word  against  your  coming  under  existing  circumstances  ; 
besides,  I  want  to  see  you  on  some  business  of  mine  that  would 
ease  my  mind  very  much.  Should  the  Lord  spare  me,  and  Mr. 
Allen  returns  from  Mobile,  perhaps  you  can  come.  You  have 
a  Master  that  claims  my  warmest  wishes.  I  feel  grateful  to 
him  for  all  his  kindness  to  you.  May  the  Lord  repay  him  an 
hundred  fold,  spiritual  and  temporal.  Likewise  I  tender  my 
thanks  to  all  your  friends  at  N.  P.  for  their  goodness  to  you, 


MT.  13-20.]  APPRENTICESHIP.  49 

and  hope  you  may  merit  the  approbation  of  them  all  by  your    CHAP.   ill. 
good  behavior.     0  Lloyd,  if  I  was  to  hear  and  have  reason  to      g  g~ 
think  you  was  unsteady,  it  would  break  my  heart.     God  for 
bid  !     You  are  now  at  an  age  when  you  are  forming  character 
for  life,  a  dangerous  age.     Shun  every  appearance  of  evil  for 
the  sake  of  your  soul  as  well  as  the  body.     ...     I  am  still 
keeping  house  and  have  a  woman  to  take  care  of  me,  and, 
thank  God !  I  have  accumulated  friends  that  are  very  kind  to 
me.   I  have  not  money,  but  I  do  not  want  for  anything  to  make 
me  comfortable." 

Mr.  Allen's  prolonged  absence  at  the  South  made  it 
impossible  for  Lloyd  to  go  to  his  mother  until  his  mas 
ter's  return  in  May,  when  he  wrote  a  long  letter  to  her, 
explaining  why  he  could  not  at  once  hasten  to  her, 
and  requesting  her,  as  Mr.  Allen  was  loth  to  let  his 
valued  apprentice  go,  even  for  a  short  time  and  on 
such  an  errand,  to  write  directly  to  him  and  state  the 
urgency  of  the  case.  This  letter,  written  in  his  clear 
hand  and  punctuated  with  scrupulous  exactness,  is  es 
pecially  interesting  for  its  allusions  to  his  anonymous 
contributions  to  the  Herald  : 


W.  L.  Garrison  to  Ms  Mother. 

NEWBURYPORT,  May  26th,  1823.  MSf 

DEAR  MOTHER  :  .  .  .  Your  letter  was  alike  a  source  of 
pleasure  and  of  pain.  Of  pleasure,  because  it  was  pleasing  to 
receive  a  letter  couched  in  such  tender  language  from  an 
affectionate  mother,  whose  prop  of  comfort  and  consolation 
devolves  upon  her  son,  who,  should  he  fail,  would  bring  her  in 
sorrow  to  the  grave. —  Of  pain,  because  it  brought  the  intelli 
gence  of  your  having  experienced  another  bleeding  at  the  lungs, 
which  had  almost  laid  you  at  death's  door  —  but  this  was  miti 
gated  in  some  degree  with  the  assurance  that  you  had  recovered 
in  some  measure  from  the  effects  of  the  same. 

Since  I  have  received  your  letter,  my  time  has  been  swallowed 
up  in  turning  author.— I  have  written  in  the  Herald  three  long 
political  pieces,  under  the  caption  of  "  Our  Next  Governor,"  and 
the  signature  of  "One  of  the  People" — rather  a  great  signature, 
to  be  sure,  for  such  a  small  man  as  myself. —  But  vain  were  the 
efforts  of  the  friends  and  disciples  of  Washington,  the  true 
VOL.  L— 4 


50 


WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARKISON. 


[JET.  13-20. 


Caleb  Gush 
ing. 


CHAP.  in.  Federal  Republicans  of  Massachusetts  —  Democracy  has  finally 
1818^1825.  triumphed  over  correct  principles,  and  this  State  may  expect 
to  see  the  scenes  of  1811-12  revived  in  all  their  blighting  in 
fluence;— may  they  be  as  short-lived  as  they  were  at  that 
period.  You  will  undoubtedly  smile  at  my  turning  politician 
at  the  age  of  eighteen  —  but,  "  true  'tis,  and  (perhaps)  pity  'tis  'tis 
true  "—  and  I  cannot  but  help  smiling  myself  at  the  thought. — 
I  have  likewise  published  another  political  communication 
under  the  same  signature.  Besides  these,  I  have  written  three 
other  communications  under  the  head  of  "A  Glance  at  Europe'1'1 
—  analyzing  the  present  state  of  political  affairs  between  Spain 
and  the  Holy  Alliance  —  and  which  called  forth  a  very  handsome 
notice  of  the  same  from  Mr.  Gushing,  the  Editor  of  the  Herald. — 
But  I  am  at  last  discovered  to  be  the  author,  notwithstanding 
my  utmost  endeavors  to  let  it  remain  a  secret. —  It  is  now  but 
partially  known,  however,  and  has  created  no  little  sensation 
in  town  —  so  that  I  have  concluded  to  write  no  more  at  present. 
Thus  you  perceive,  my  dear  mother,  that  my  leisure  moments 
have  been  usefully  and  wisely  employed  ; —  usefully,  because  it 
is  beneficial  in  cultivating  the  seeds  of  improvement  in  my 
breast,  and  expanding  the  intellectual  powers  and  faculties  of 
my  mind ;  wisely,  because  it  has  kept  me  from  wasting  time  in 
that  dull,  senseless,  insipid  manner,  which  generally  charac 
terizes  giddy  youths.  It  is  now  about  one  year  since  I  com 
menced  writing  for  the  Herald  —  and  in  that  time  I  have 
written  about  fifteen  communications. — When  I  peruse  them 
over,  I  feel  absolutely  astonished  at  the  different  subjects  which 
I  have  discussed,  and  the  style  in  which  they  are  written.  Indeed, 
it  is  altogether  a  matter  of  surprise  that  I  have  met  with  such 
signal  success,  seeing  I  do  not  understand  one  single  rule  of 
grammar,  and  having  a  very  inferior  education. —  But  enough 
of  my  scribblings,  in  all  conscience,  for  the  present,  to  something 
that  is  more  important  and  interesting.  .  .  . 

Write  particularly  where  I  shall  find  you,  should  I  come  to 
Baltimore.  B.,  and  how  I  shall  get  to  your  boarding  place. —  I  cannot  but 
exclaim—"  Oh !  had  I  the  wings  of  a  dove,  then  would  I  soar 
away,  and  be  with  you."  Excuse  this  hasty  scrawl,  as  it  is  now 
midnight.  Adieu  !  dear  mother,  and  0  may  Heaven  grant  that 
I  shall  clasp  you  again  to  my  throbbing  breast. 

W.  L.  GARRISON. 

His  mother  received  this  letter  on  June  2,  1823,  and 
promptly  wrote  an  earnest  and  pathetic  appeal  to  Mr. 


Mi.  13-20.]  APPKENTICESHIP.  51 

Allen  to  allow  her  son  to  pay  her  a  final  visit  ;  and  this  CHAP.  in. 
he  could  no  longer  refuse.     To  Lloyd  she  also  wrote  at    I8i8^i82s. 
the  same  time,  giving  him  directions  how  to  find  her,  on 
his  arrival  in  Baltimore,  and   endeavoring  to   conceal 
her  pride  and  interest  in  his  literary  efforts  by  warn 
ing  him  of  the  dangers  and  difficulties  he  was  liable  to 
encounter;   but  her  exhortation  ended  with  a  blessing, 
and  a  request  that  he  would  bring  his  productions  for 
her  to  read.     This  was  probably  the  last  letter  she  ever 
wrote  to  him  : 

"  Next,  your  turning  Author.  You  have  no  doubt  read  and  MS.  to 
heard  the  fate  of  such  characters,  that  they  generally  starve  to 
death  in  some  garret  or  place  that  no  one  inhabits  ;  so  you  may 
see  what  fortune  and  luck  belong  to  you  if  you  are  of  that  class 
of  people.  Secondly,  you  think  your  time  was  wisely  spent 
while  you  was  writing  political  pieces.  I  cannot  join  with  you 
there,  for  had  you  been  searching  the  scriptures  for  truth,  and 
praying  for  direction  of  the  holy  spirit  to  lead  your  mind  into 
the  path  of  holiness,  your  time  would  have  been  more  wisely 
spent,  and  your  advance  to  the  heavenly  world  more  rapid. 
But  instead  of  that  you  have  taken  the  Hydra  by  the  head,  and 
now  beware  of  his  mouth;  but  as  it  is  done,  I  suppose  you 
think  you  had  better  go  on  and  seek  the  applause  of  mortals. 
But,  my  dear  L.,  lose  not  the  favour  of  God ;  have  an  eye 
single  to  his  glory,  and  you  will  not  lose  your  reward.  . 
Now,  my  dear,  I  must  draw  to  a  close  and  say  that  I  love  you 
as  dear  as  ever,  especially  when  you  consider  your  dear  mother 
and  are  trying  by  your  good  behaviour  to  soothe  her  path  to 
the  grave.  May  God  bless  you  and  be  with  you  all  the  days 
of  your  life,  is  my  ardent  prayer.  .  .  .  Will  you  be  so 
kind  as  to  bring  on  your  pieces  that  you  have  written  for  me 
to  see  ?  .  .  . 

"  Adieu,  my  dear,  for  I  am  tired. 

"  Your  affectionate  Mother, 

"  FRANCES  M.  GARRISON." 

Lloyd  embarked  from  Boston  for  Baltimore  on  June 
21,  1823.  He  had  never  been  in  Boston  before,  and  it  is 
evident  from  the  letter  which  he  wrote  to  his  master 
from  Baltimore  that  he  did  not  enjoy  his  day's  experi 
ence  there : 


52 


WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAKRISON. 


.  13-20. 


Hyannis- 
port. 


MS.  to  £.  "  You  wished  me  to  call  at  No.  1,  Cornhill,  and  ask  Mr.  Carter 
Jfcfr7*]£23  *or  SOIDe  more  leads  for  the  paper.  This  I  intended  to  have 
done :  but,  after  wandering  about  2  or  3  hours,  and  enquiring 
of  20  different  persons,  (none  of  whom,  however,  would  take 
the  trouble  to  show  me,)  I  was  forced  to  give  up  in  despair. 
Being  totally  unacquainted  with  Boston,  and  never  there  before, 
I  got  lost  several  times  in  my  travels  —  so  that  all  was  perplexity. 
Indeed,  I  felt  truly  homesick  in  being  one  short  day  in  Bos 
ton. —  I  was  seasick  but  about  15  minutes  on  my  passage." 

The  voyage  was  a  tedious  one  of  fourteen  days,  the 
ship  encountering  "  very  boisterous  weather  and  consid 
erable  head  winds,"  as  the  same  letter  describes.  "  The 
evening  we  sailed  from  Boston,  a  very  heavy  gale  of  wind 
tore  our  foretopsail,  maintopsail,  and  jibs,  besides  render 
ing  other  considerable  damage.  We  were  thus  obliged  to 
put  in  at  Hyana  Heads,  for  the  purpose  of  repairing  our 
tattered  sails,  where  we  remained  two  days,  the  winds 
and  the  weather  conspiring  against  us." 

Of  this  storm,  however,  Lloyd  knew  nothing  at  the 
moment,  for,  wearied  by  his  day's  adventures  in  Boston, 
lie  went  on  board  the  vessel,  and,  after  wondering  how 
she  could  ever  be  worked  out  from  among  the  other 
shipping  at  the  wharf,  stretched  himself  in  his  berth  and 
slept  so  soundly  that  he  was  unconscious  of  everything 
until  Hyannis  was  reached,  the  next  day.  There  he  went 
ashore  with  some  of  his  fellow-passengers,  who  decided 
to  remain  on  land  overnight  rather  than  go  back  to  the 
ship  in  such  rough  water,  and  when  lie  undertook  to 
return  alone,  he  failed  to  get  alongside  the  vessel,  and 
wind  and  tide  swept  him  and  his  boat  a  mile  or  more 
down  the  shore.  He  narrowly  escaped  being  swamped, 
but  finally  managed  to  land,  and  trudged  back  to  the 
town.  In  Chesapeake  Bay  a  terrific  thunderstorm  was 
encountered,  but  a  landing  was  finally  made  in  Bal 
timore  on  the  5th  of  July.  His  meeting  with  his  mother 
was  most  affecting.  To  Mr.  Allen  lie  wrote : 


1823. 


MS., July 7,       "You  must   imagine   my  sensations  on  beholding  a  dearly 
beloved  mother,  after  an  absence  of  seven  years.     I  found  her 


Mi.  13-20.]  APPRENTICESHIP.  53 

in  tears  —  but,  0  God,  so  altered,  so  emaciated,  that  I  should   CHAP.  ill. 

never  have  recognized  her,  had  I  not  known  that  there  were 

none   else  in  the  room.    Instead  of  the  tall,  robust  woman, 

blooming  in  health,  whom  I  saw  last,  she  is  now  bent  up  by 

'fell  disease,'  pined  away  to  almost  a  skeleton,  and  unable  to 

walk.     She  is  under  the  necessity  of  being  bolstered  up  in  bed, 

being  incompetent  to  lie  down,  as  it  would  immediately  choke 

her." 

The  next  two  or  three  weeks,  during  which  Lloyd  was 
able  to  remain  with  his  mother,  were  precious  to  them 
both,  for  they  had  many  things  to  talk  of  before  their 
final  separation, —  Lloyd's  prospects  for  the  future;  the 
mystery  attending  his  father  ;  the  recent  death  of  his 
sister  5  and  the  possible  fate  of  his  wayward  brother 
James,  from  whom  nothing  had  been  heard  for  years, 
and  who  was  destined,  poor  waif !  to  be  tossed  and 
driven  about  the  sea,  suffering  incredible  hardships,  for 
nearly  a  score  of  years  longer,  before  he  was  finally  dis 
covered  and  rescued  by  his  brother. 

Not  long  after  Lloyd  had  taken  farewell  of  his  mother 
and  returned  to  Newburyport,  a  cancerous  tumor  which 
had  formed  on  her  shoulder  necessitated  an  operation, 
from  the  effects  of  which  she  never  rallied,  and  she 
steadily  sank  until  the  3rd  of  September,  when  death  1823. 
ensued.  Everything  was  done  by  the  friends  about  her 
to  make  her  last  days  comfortable,  and  her  remains  were 
interred  in  the  private  burial  lot  of  a  family  who  had 
been  especially  attached  and  devoted  to  her.  Her  son 
recorded  her  decease  in  the  Newburyport  Herald  of  Sep 
tember  9, 1823,  as  follows  : 

DIED.  In  Baltimore,  3rd  inst.,  after  a  long  and  distressing  ill 
ness,  which  she  bore  with  Christian  fortitude  and  resignation, 
Mrs.  Frances  Maria  Garrison,  relict  of  the  late  Capt.  Abijah  G., 
formerly  of  this  town,  aged  45.  [The  printers  of  the  Eastport 
Sentinel  and  St.  John  Star  are  requested  to  copy  this  death  into  their 
respective  papers.] 

With  three  exceptions,  when  he  contributed  some 
trifling  and  unimportant  verses  under  his  old  signature 


54  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GAEEISON.  [^T.  13-20. 

CHAP.  in.   of  "  A.  O.  B.,w  Lloyd  wrote  nothing  for  the  Herald  during 

1818-1825.    the  next  year.     In  June,  1824,  however,  he  was  moved 

by  the  publication  of  Timothy  Pickering's  f  Review  of 

John  Adams's  Letters  to  William  Cunningham/  to  send 

June,  ii  and  two  long  communications  to  the  Salem  Gazette,  under  the 
signature  of  "  Aristides."  These  were  highly  eulogistic 
of  Mr.  Pickering,  whose  pamphlet  in  defence  of  himself 
against  the  attacks  of  Mr.  Adams  had  caused  a  wide 
sensation  and  led  to  an  acrimonious  war  of  words  be 
tween  the  partisans  of  those  eminent  statesmen.  Walsh's 
National  Gazette  of  Philadelphia  was  the  mouth-piece  of 
the  Adams  party,  while  the  Salem  Gazette  was  under 
stood  to  speak  by  authority  for  Mr.  Pickering ;  and  such 
was  the  interest  in  the  discussion  that  raged  for  a  time, 
that  the  letters  of  the  Newburyport  apprentice  attracted 
much  notice,  and  were  believed  to  have  come  from  a 
maturer  hand.  The  controversy  had  an  indirect  bearing 
on  the  impending  Presidential  election,  in  which  John 
Quincy  Adams  was  a  candidate,  and  the  Pickering  party 
aimed  their  darts  at  the  son,  therefore,  quite  as  much  as 
at  the  father.  The  youthful  "  Aristides,"  who,  four  years 
later,  ardently  advocated  his  reelection,  now  joined  in  de 
crying  him.  His  conception  of  the  character  of  General 
Andrew  Jackson  was  much  more  clear  and  accurate,  and 
July  27,  his  next  contribution  to  the  Gazette  was  an  open  letter  to 
that  military  chieftain,  endeavoring  to  convince  him  of 
his  utter  unfitness  for  the  office  of  President,  and  the 
hopelessness  of  his  efforts  to  gain  that  position.  This 
letter  was  forcible,  dignified,  and  mature  in  thought 
and  expression. 

Salem  His  remaining  contributions   to   the    Gazette  were   a 

io,    series   of   six  articles  entitled  "  The   Crisis,"  which  ap- 
/.lzafacJ',    Peared  at  intervals  between  the  beginning  of  August 
l824-       and  end  of  October,  and  discussed  the  political  situation. 
The   importance   of  united   action  on   the  part   of  the 
Federalists,  now  so  largely  in  the  minority,  was  empha 
sized,  and  their  support  of  William  H.  Crawford  for  the 
Presidency  in  opposition  to  John   Quincy  Adams  was 


Mi.  13-20.]  APPEENTICESHIP.  55 

strongly  urged;  yet  while  "  Aristides  "  had  much  to  say  CHAP.  in. 
in  depreciation  of  the  latter,  he  evidently  knew  very    jSis^iSzs. 
little  of  the  former,  and  simply  supported  him  because 
he  was  the  candidate  of  the  Pickering  faction.     Quota 
tions  from  Shakespeare  and  Junius  prefixed  to  two  or 
three  of  the  letters  indicate  that  the  writer  was  already 
familiar  with  those  masters  of  the  language. 

Aside  from  his  great  sorrow  in  the  loss  of  his  mother 
and  sister,  the  last  three  years  of  Lloyd's  apprenticeship 
were  very  happy  years  to  him.  Trusted  by  his  master 
with  the  entire  supervision  of  the  printing-office,  and 
with  the  editorial  charge  of  the  Herald  when  he  was 
himself  absent ;  devoting  his  spare  hours  to  reading  and 
study ;  encouraged  by  the  recognition  of  merit  in  his  vari 
ous  essays  at  writing  for  the  press,  and  by  the  ready  accept 
ance  anpl  insertion  of  his  articles  and  communications : 
fond  of  social  intercourse,  and  a  universal  favorite  with 
his  friends  of  both  sexes ;  full  of  health,  vigor  and  am 
bition  ;  known  and  respected  by  all  his  townspeople  as 
an  exemplary  and  promising  young  man  —  success  in  life 
seemed  easily  within  his  grasp.  An  oil  portrait  taken 
about  this  period  by  Swain,  a  local  artist,  represents  him 
with  a  smooth  face,  abundant  black  hair,  a  standing 
collar,  and  a  ruffled  shirt  bosom.  "  He  was  an  exceed-  MS. 
ingly  genteel  young  man,"  writes  Mr.  Morss,  "  always 
neatly,  and  perhaps  I  might  say  elegantly  dressed,  and 
in  good  taste,  and  was  quite  popular  with  the  ladies." 
And  the  Rev.  E.  W.  Allen,  a  son  of  the  Herald  proprie 
tor,  has  a  vivid  recollection  of  Lloyd's  handsome  face, 
glowing  color,  quick  and  active  movements,  and  his 
ever  bright  and  happy  presence  in  the  household. 

His  most  intimate  friend  at  this  time  was  a  young 
man  named  William  Goss  Crocker,  who  was,  like  him 
self,  warmly  attached  to  the  Baptist  church,  and  who 
subsequently  became  a  missionary  to  Liberia,  where  he 
died  in  1844.  He  was  only  a  few  months  older  than 
Lloyd,  and  they  spent  many  evenings  together  in  a  room 
over  the  bookstore  and  printing-office  of  W.  &  J.  Gilman, 


56  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKKISON.  [^T.  13-20. 


CHAP.  in.  engaged  in  reading  and  study  and  literary  composition. 
1818-1825.  Crocker  had  been  on  the  shoemaker's  bench  for  a  time, 
but  afterwards  went  into  the  office  of  the  Gilmans  as  an 
apprentice,  probably  succeeding,  in  that  capacity,  a  youth 
named  Isaac  Knapp,  who,  like  Crocker,  was-  warmly 
attached  to  Lloyd  and  greatly  influenced  by  his  strong 
magnetism.  Others  felt  this,  also,  and  a  debating  society 
known  as  the  Franklin  Club,  before  which  Lloyd  one 
year  delivered  a  Fourth  of  July  oration,  was  really 
founded  by  him.1  The  intimacy  between  him  and 
Crocker  waned  after  they  separated  and  left  Newbury- 
port,  the  one  to  seek  a  journalistic  career,  and  the  other 
to  enter  a  theological  school;2  but  that  with  Knapp,  as 
will  abundantly  appear,  was  more  enduring  and  of  the 
highest  importance. 

Though  Lloyd  was  not,  like  Crocker,  a  communicant 
in  the  church,  he  was  a  constant  attendant  at  its  meet 
ings,  and  had  become,  as  his  mother  had  fondly  antici 
pated,  "  a  complete  Baptist  as  to  the  tenets."  He  had 

LH.  19:178.  never  been  baptized,  himself,  but  he  was  yet  zealous  for 
immersion  as  the  only  acceptable  baptism  ;  he  believed 
in  the  clerical  order  and  the  organized  church  as  divinely 
instituted,  and  was  a  strict  Sabbatarian.  He  early  became 
familiar  with  the  Bible,  and  could  repeat  scores  of  verses 
by  heart,  but  he  did  not  realize  their  full  meaning  and 
power  until  his  consecration  to  the  cause  of  the  slave 
led  him  to  study  the  book  anew. 

It  was  during  the  year  1824  that  he  first  discovered  his 
near-sightedness,  and  when  he  one  day  chanced  to  try 
the  spectacles  of  Miss  Betsey  Atkinson,  an  old  friend  of 
his  mother,  and  discerned  things  that  he  had  never  seen 

1  Mr.  Charles  J.  Brockway,  who  was  two  years  Lloyd's  junior,  and  recalls 
him  as  "  a  handsome  and  an  attractive  youth,  unusually  dignified  in  his 
bearing  for  so  young  a  man,"  says,  in  reference  to  this  oration,  that  Lloyd 
practised  his  declamation  in  the  "  groves  and  green  fields  on  the  outskirts 
of  his  native  town."    "  Old  Maid's  Hall,"  now  a  part  of  Oak  Hill  Cemetery, 
was  one  of  his  resorts  for  this  purpose. 

2  An  acrostic  addressed  to  William  Goss  Crocker,  on  his  departure  for 
Liberia,  and  signed  "  G.,"  on  page  160  of  the  fifth  volume  of  the  Liberator 
(1835),  gives  evidence  of  their  continued  friendship,  however. 


MT.  13-20.] 


APPKENTICESHIP. 


57 


Avg.  31. 


before,  he  was  full  of  delight,  for  "  a  new  world  seemed  CHAP.  HI. 
opened  "  to  his  vision,  and  from  that  time  he  wore  glasses.    1818^1825. 

About  this  same  period  he  had  a  boyish  desire  to  go  to 
Greece  and  join  the  forces  of  the  revolutionists  against 
Turkish  tyranny,  and  he  also  thought  of  seeking  a  mili 
tary  education  at  West  Point.  He  was  enthusiastic  over 
Lafayette's  visit  to  Newburyport,  at  the  end  of  August, 
1824,  and  was  among  the  thousands  who  awaited  his 
arrival  late  at  night,  in  a  drenching  rain.  He  used  to 
narrate  how  Lafayette,  who  was  deeply  moved  by  the 
sight,  begged  the  people,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  no  longer 
to  expose  themselves  so  for  his  sake,  but  to  disperse 
and  come  and  shake  him  by  the  hand  the  next  morning, 
and  Lloyd  was  one  of  the  multitude  who  availed  them 
selves  of  that  privilege. 

His  most  considerable  contribution  to  the  Herald  dur 
ing  the  last  year  of  his  apprenticeship  was  a  three- 
column  article  on  "  American  Writers,"  in  reply  to  an 
attack  by  John  Neal  in  Blackivood's  Edinburgh  Magazine; 
but  most  of  the  writers  in  whose  behalf  he  sharpened 
his  quill  are  now  forgotten  and  unknown. 

On  the  10th  of  December,  1825,  he  completed  his  ap 
prenticeship  of  seven  years  and  two  months  in  the  Herald 
office,  and  under  the  (as  it  subsequently  appeared,  mis 
taken)  impression  that  the  year  of  his  birth  was  1804, 
and  that  he  had  now  attained  his  majority,  he  signalized 
the  event  by  a  fervid  poem  of  eight  stanzas,  entitled 
"  Twenty-One  ! "  with  this  concluding  invocation : 


N.  P. 

Herald, 

May  17, 

1825. 


Spirit  of  Independence  !  where  art  thou  ? — 

I  see  thy  glorious  form  —  and  eagle  eye, 

Beaming  beneath  thy  mild  and  open  brow  — 

Thy  step  of  majesty,  and  proud  look  high: 

Thee  I  invoke  !  —  0  to  this  bosom  fly ; 

Nor  wealth  shall  awe  my  soul,  nor  might,  nor  power  j 

And  should  thy  whelps  assail,—  lank  poverty ! 

Or  threatening  clouds  of  dark  oppression  lower, — 

Yet  these  combined  —  defied !  shall  never  make  thee  *  cower ! 


Ibid.,  Dec. 
16,  1825. 


The  sense  seems  here  to  call  for  "me"  instead  of  "thee." 


58 


WILLIAM  LLOYD   GARRISON. 


13-20. 


CHAP.  in.       He  remained  a  few  weeks  longer  in  the  Herald  office, 
1818-1825.    as  a  journeyman,  and  his  last  contribution  to  that  paper 


N.  P. 

Herald, 

January  3, 

1826. 


bore,  like  his  first,  his  bachelor  initials,  and  was  devoted 
to  a  similar  theme,  being  an  "  Essay  on  Marriage,"  which 
he  discussed  with  the  same  affectation  of  cynicism  as  at 
first,  declaring  that  uof  all  the  conceits  that  ever  entered 
into  the  brains  of  a  wise  man,  that  of  marriage  is  the 
most  ridiculous."  And  with  this  light  and  trivial  con 
clusion  to  his  boyish  essays,  he  graduated  from  the  office 
of  the  Herald,  and  went  forth  to  establish  a  paper  of  his 
own,  and  to  see  what  place  in  the  world  he  could  now 
show  himself  able  to  fill. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

EDITORIAL  EXPERIMENTS. — 1826 - 1828. 

A LTHOUGH  his  own  political  sympathies  and  affilia-  CHAP.  iv. 
J_~\_  tions  were  with  the  Federalists  and  their  successors, 
the  Federal  Republicans,  it  was  Mr.  Allen's  effort  so  to  con 
duct  the  Herald  as  to  secure  the  good- will  and  patronage 
of  all  parties  in  the  community,  and  the  paper  was  classed 
as  "  independent/'  which  signified  in  those  days  neu 
trality  and  a  willingness  to  admit  communications  from 
both  parties  to  its  columns.  So  far  was  this  from  satis 
fying  the  Democrats  of  Newburyport  and  vicinity,  how 
ever,  that  they  tried,  in  1824,  to  establish  a  newspaper 
of  their  own,  under  the  title  of  the  Northern  Chronicler. 
The  venture  was  unsuccessful,  and  the  paper  was  sold,  in 
June,  1825,  to  Isaac  Knapp,  3rd,  who  changed  its  name 
to  the  Essex  C our  ant  and  published  it  as  a  "  neutral " 
paper  until  the  following  spring,  the  last  issue  being 
dated  March  16,  1826.  The  next  week  the  paper  under 
went  another  change  and  appeared,  on  March  22,  under 
the  title  of  the  Free  Press,  and  with  the  name  of  Win. 
L.  Garrison  as  publisher  in  place  of  his  friend  Mr. 
Knapp,  whose  retirement  on  account  of  ill-health  was 
announced  in  the  final  number  of  the  Courant.  Thus, 
within  three  months  from  the  termination  of  his  long 
apprenticeship  in  the  Herald  office,  Garrison  found  him 
self  the  editor  and  publisher  of  a  newspaper  in  his 
native  town,  and  entered  upon  his  new  career  full  of 
confidence  in  his  own  abilities,  and  of  hope  that  success 
would  reward  his  effort  to  establish  a  bold  and  inde- 

59 


60 


WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAKRISON. 


.  21-23. 


Mar.  13, 
1829. 


CHAP.  iv.    pendent  journal.     The  venture  was  not  made  wholly  on 
1826^1828.    his  own  responsibility,  Mr.  Allen  proving  his  faith  in 
his  favorite  apprentice  by  advancing  the  money  requisite 
for  the  purchase  of  the  paper  and  its  equipment;  but 
this   was  done*  quietly  .and  without  the  knowledge  of 
others  than  the  parties  concerned.     Mr.  Garrison,  who 
left  Mr.  Allen's  home  when  his  apprenticeship   ended, 
and  returned  to  Mrs.  Fariiham's,  always  gratefully  re 
membered  the  kind  friendship  and  encouragement  of  his 
Journal  of    old  master,  and  declared  that  "  a  better  father,  a  better 

the  Times,  ' 

master,  a  worthier  citizen,  or  a  man  of  more  integrity, 
benevolence,  and  steadfastness  of  character"  did  not,  to 
his  belief,  exist. 

The  Free  Press  was  a  four-page  sheet,  measuring 
llf  x  17J  inches  to  the  printed  page,  and  with  five  col 
umns  on  a  page  j  the  subscription  price  was  $2.00  a  year.1 
The  very  first  number  showed  a  marked  improvement  in 
typographical  taste  and  arrangement  over  its  predecessor 
the  Courant,  and  indicated  that  the  new  editor  had 
clearly-defined  ideas  as  to  the  appropriate  matter  and 
make-up  of  a  good  newspaper.  The  first  page  was 
usually  devoted  to  selected  miscellany ;  the  second  to 
the  proceedings  of  Congress  and  the  State  Legislature, 
foreign  and  domestic  news,  and  the  editorial  department  j 
while  the  third  and  fourth  pages  contained  sundry  items 
and  paragraphs,  the  ship  news,  poetry  column,  advertise 
ments,  etc.  The  motto  displayed  under  the  title  of  the 
paper  — "  Our  Country,  Our  Whole  Country,  and  Noth 
ing  but  Our  Country" — was  somewhat  different  from 
that  which  the  editor  adopted  for  the  Liberator,  five 
years  later.  But  he  was  now  full  of  patriotism  in  its 
narrower  sense,  and  the  leading  article  in  the  initial  num 
ber  of  the  Free  Press,  occupying  nearly  two  columns  of  the 
first  page,  was  an  impassioned  argument  and  demand 
for  the  settlement  by  Congress  of  the  "  Massachusetts 
Claim,"  namely,  for  indemnification  on  account  of  the 


1  The  office  of  the  paper,  at  first  at  No.  24  State  St.,  was  subsequently 
removed  to  No.  2  South  Row,  Market  Square. 


.  21-23.  J 


EDITORIAL   EXPERIMENTS. 


61 


sums  advanced  by  that  State  for  the  defence  of  her  own 
coast  during  the  war  of  1812.  The  claims  of  other 
(especially  Southern)  States  had  been  promptly  allowed 
and  paid,  while  Massachusetts  was  compelled  to  plead 
and  sue  for  hers  year  after  year.  The  indignant  young 
editor  pursued  the  subject  through  several  numbers 
of  his  paper,  giving  much  space  to  the  official  corre 
spondence  and  to  the  debates  in  Congress  concerning 
the  matter.  Plus  apud  nos  vera  ratio  valeat  quam  vulgi 
opinio  was  the  quotation  from  Cicero  which  he  prefixed 
to  his  articles,  and  the  same  declaration  was  embodied 
in  his  Salutatory  to  his  patrons,  which  is  here  given 
in  full : 

"  It  would  seem  uncourteous  in  the  publisher,  at  this  time, 
not  to  make  a  few  remarks  upon  the  course  which  he  has 
marked  out  for  himself.  Youthful  in  years  and  experience,  he 
has  not  the  vanity  to  claim  what  belongs  to  riper  age,  or  to 
presume  that  he  is  fitly  qualified  for  the  present  task.  But  if 
an  earnest  desire  to  improve  both  the  matter  and  the  appear 
ance  of  the  paper ;  if  a  determination  to  pursue  his  favorite 
avocation  with  vigor  and  zeal  5  can  claim  a  share  of  public 
indulgence  and  support,  he  trusts  that  his  efforts  will  not  be 
altogether  vain. 

"As  to  the  political  course  of  the  Free  Press,  it  shall  be,  in 
the  widest  extent  of  the  term,  independent.  The  publisher  does 
not  mean,  by  this,  to  rank  one  amongst  those  who  are  of  every 
body's  and  of  nobody's  opinion ;  who  forge  their  own  fetters 
and  cannot  move  beyond  the  length  of  their  chains  ; —  nor  one, 
of  whom  the  old  French  proverb  says,  (Il  ne  sait  sur  quel  pied 
darner."1  [He  knows  not  on  which  leg  to  dance.]  Its  principles 
shall  be  open,  magnanimous,  and  free.  It  shall  be  subservient 
to  no  party  or  body  of  men :  and  neither  the  craven  fear  of 
loss,  nor  the  threats  of  the  disappointed,  nor  the  influence  of 
power,  shall  ever  awe  one  single  opinion  into  silence.  Honest 
and  fair  discussion  it  will  court ;  and  its  columns  will  be  open  to 
all  temperate  and  intelligent  communications,  emanating  from 
whatever  political  source.  In  fine,  he  will  say  with  Cicero: 
'  Reason  shall  prevail  with  him  more  than  popular  opinion.' 
They  who  like  this  avowal  may  extend  their  encouragement  j 
and  if  any  feel  dissatisfied  with  it,  they  must  act  accordingly. 
The  publisher  cannot  condescend  to  solicit  their  support." 


CHAP.  IV. 
1826-1828. 


Free  Press, 

Mar.  22, 

1826. 


62 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON. 


21-23. 


CHAP.  IV. 

1826-1828. 


Free  Press, 

Mar.  22, 

1826. 


Wm.Eustis, 
Levi  Lin 
coln. 


The  keynote  of  his  whole  editorial  career,  which  he 
struck  thus  clearly  and  unfalteringly  at  the  very  outset, 
was  followed  by  a  frank  confession  of  the  slender 
patronage  which  the  paper  was  then  receiving,  and  a 
hint  that  even  the  long-established  and  eminently  respect 
able  Herald  had  no  very  generous  support : 

"We  are  free  to  acknowledge,"  the  next  paragraph  read, 
"  that  our  subscription-list  is  by  no  means  bulky  ;  and  although 
infinitely  better  than  FalstafE's  ragged  followers,  yet  unbe 
comingly  stinted,  considering  the  magnitude  of  the  town. 
Perhaps  in  the  whole  United  States  an  instance  cannot  be 
found,  where,  in  a  population  of  7000,  two  papers  are  so  feebly 
supported  as  in  Newburyport.  [Our  brother  of  the  Herald  will 
perceive  that  we  speak  under  the  rose  —  i.  e.7  BP  TWO  words  for 
ourselves,  and  ONE  for  him.]  We  will  not  pretend  to  unravel 
the  cause,  but  if  every  little  nourishing  village  can  kindly 
cherish  TWO  newspapers,  why  may  not  a  large  commercial  town 
afford  the  same  encouragement  ?  " 

In  the  second  number,  the  editor  announced  that  his 
remarks  on  the  Massachusetts  Claim  the  preceding  week 
had  brought  him  orders  from  ten  indignant  subscribers 
for  the  discontinuance  of  their  papers,  and  he  assured 
them  that  he  erased  their  names  from  the  list  with  the 
same  pleasure  which  he  felt  in  inserting  more  than  an 
equal  number  in  their  place.  They  were  doubtless  Demo 
crats  (or  "  Republicans,"  as  they  were  then  called)  who 
had  taken  offence  at  his  criticisms  011  Governors  Eustis 
and  Lincoln  for  their  unsatisfactory  conduct  of  the  State's 
case  against  the  National  Government  j  and  more  fol 
lowed  their  example  a  week  or  two  later.  "  Nevertheless, 
we  repeat,"  said  the  editor,  "  our  happiness  at  the  loss  of 
such  subscribers  is  not  a  whit  abated.  We  beg  no  man's 
patronage,  and  shall  ever  erase  with  the  same  cheerful 
ness  that  we  insert  the  name  of  any  individual.  .  .  . 
Personal  or  political  offence  we  shall  studiously  try  to 
avoid  —  truth,  never.77 

The  year  1826  was  noteworthy  as  completing  the  first 
fifty  years  of  the  nation's  independence  j  and  the  remark 
able  coincidence  of  the  death  of  the  two  ex-Presidents 


En.  21-23. J  EDITOKIAL   EXPERIMENTS.  63 

and  signers  of  the  Declaration,  Adams  and  Jefferson,  on  CHAP.  iv. 
the  anniversary  d:ay,  made  a  profound  impression  upon  !826-i828. 
the  country.  The  Free  Press,  like  other  papers,  devoted 
much  space  to  particulars  of  the  event,  biographical 
sketches,  anecdotes  and  reminiscences  of  the  deceased 
statesmen,  and  copious  extracts  from  the  eulogies  pro 
nounced  by  Webster,  Gushing,  and  Peleg  Sprague  ;  but 
the  editor,  while  paying  tribute  to  the  abilities,  virtues, 
and  public  services  of  the  two  men,  refrained  from  indis 
criminate  eulogy,  and  even  took  his  late  master  to  task 
for  virtually  canonizing,  in  the  columns  of  the  Herald, 
the  man  (Jefferson)  whom  he  had  formerly  abhorred  and 
denounced  as  the  "  Great  Lama  of  Infidelity,"  to  which 
charge  of  inconsistency  Mr.  Allen  felt  obliged  to  make  a 
long  reply  in  self-defence.  Gommenting  on  the  labored 
panegyrics  —  some  of  them  "  disgusting,  irreverent,  and 
puerile,  and  all  of  them  inflated  and  reprehensible,"  the 
Free  Press  said : 

"  G-od  has  not  gifted  us  with  eloquence, —  we  therefore 
cannot  eulogize :  we  have  neither  flattery,  nor  falsehood,  nor 
hypocrisy,  to  bedaub  the  grave  of  either  of  these  men.  We 
love  honesty  too  well  to  sacrifice  it  lightly,  and  must  candidly 
confess  that  merely  old  age  does  not  with  us,  as  with  many 
others,  alter  the  deeds  of  manhood,  or  gild  the  errors  of  preju 
dice.  From  Mr.  Jefferson's  political  sentiments  we  have  ever 
differed ;  but  his  proud  talents  could  not  but  command  our 
admiration.  Mr.  Adams,  perhaps,  was  the  greater  statesman 
—  Mr.  Jefferson,  the  better  philosopher.  The  former  had  more 
caution — the  latter  more  stability.  The  former  was  fickle  to 
his  friends  —  the  latter  firm  and  unchanging  in  his  attachment. 
The  former  ruined  his  party  by  his  weakness  —  the  latter  built 
up  his  own  by  his  colossal  strength.  .  .  .  Both  doubtless 
were  friends  to  their  country  —  both  erred  —  and  both  helped 
to  advance  the  national  character.  .  .  .  Let  us  be  sparing 
of  our  panegyrics,  recollecting  that  indiscriminate  praise  of  the 
dead  is  often  more  injurious  than  the  coarsest  obloquy." 

The  struggle  for  independence  then  going  on  in  Greece 
excited  wide  interest  and  sympathy  in  the  United  States, 
and  the  reports  from  Dr.  Howe  and  other  Americans  who  Howe. ' 


64 


WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON. 


21-23. 


CHAP.  IV. 
1826-1828. 


Free  Press, 

Mar.  20, 

1826. 


Ibid.,  May 
18,  1826. 


had  gone  to  Greece  either  as  spectators  or  participants 
in  the  conflict  were  eagerly  printed.  The  Free  Press 
copied  from  the  New  Hampshire  Gazette  a  series  of  seven 
teen  articles  entitled  "  Views  of  Greece,"  by  a  Mr.  Est- 
wick  Evans,  who  gave,  it  must  be  confessed,  a  rather 
dull  and  prosy  account  of  his  experiences  in  that  country, 
with  reflections  on  some  of  the  Americans  who  had  gone 
thither  to  proffer  their  aid,  and  who  were  popularly  but 
erroneously  supposed  to  be  rendering  valiant  service  in 
the  cause  of  the  struggling  Greeks.  These  naturally 
elicited  rejoinders  in  their  defence,  and  sharp  attacks  on 
Mr.  Evans,  by  the  friends  of  the  absent  patriots,  and  in 
the  ensuing  discussion  the  Free  Press  sustained  Evans, 
though  differing  from  him  on  questions  of  home  politics. 
All  of  Mr.  Garrison's  editorials  in  the  Free  Press  were 
set  up  by  him  at  the  case,  without  having  first  been 
written  out  on  paper;  and  the  ability  to  think  with 
clearness  and  precision  which  he  thus  acquired  was  of 
great  value  to  him  then  and  in  subsequent  years.  Indeed, 
a  large  part  of  the  manual  work  on  the  paper  was  done 
by  him,  a  boy  being  his  only  assistant.  He  discussed  a 
variety  of  matters  editorially,  but  they  were  chiefly  of  a 
political  character,  and  his  attention  had  not  yet  been 
directed  to  questions  of  reform.  He  copied,  without 
editorial  comment  or  reprobation,  in  his  second  number, 
that  portion  of  Edward  Everett's  speech  in  Congress 
wherein  the  Massachusetts  clergyman  declared,  that 
there  was  no  cause  in  which  he  would  sooner  buckle  a 
knapsack  to  his  back,  and  put  a  musket  to  his  shoulder, 
than  the  suppression  of  a  servile  insurrection  at  the 
South,  and  quoted  the  New  Testament  ("  Slaves,  obey 
your  Masters  ! ")  in  defence  and  justification  of  slavery. 
A  few  weeks  later,  however,  he  commended  to  his  readers 
a  poem  on  "Africa,"  just  published  and  for  sale  at  the 
local  bookstores,  and  quoted  a  few  passages  from  it  in 
which  the  inconsistency  and  wickedness  of  tolerating 
slavery  in  the  American  republic  were  denounced  in  im 
passioned  phrase.  "  We  have  perused  [it]  with  heartfelt 


MT.  21-23.] 


EDITORIAL  EXPEKIMENTS. 


65 


satisfaction,"  the  editor  said,  "  and  would  recommend  it 
to  all  those  who  wish  to  cherish  female  genius,  and  whose 
best  feelings  are  enlisted  in  the  cause  of  the  poor 
oppressed  sons  of  Africa.  It  is  the  production  of  a 
young  lady  of  fine  talents,  whose  circumstances  are  far 
from  being  affluent,  but  whose  pen  should  never  be  idle 
while  it  continues  to  glow  with  sentiments  like  the  fol 
lowing.7'  It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  this  first  indi 
cation  of  Mr.  Garrison's  giving  any  thought  to  the 
slavery  question  was  elicited  by  the  writing  of  a  woman, 
and  a  single  extract  will  show  how  well  calculated  it 
was  to  make  an  impression  on  his  mind  and  conscience  : 

" Is  it  a  dream'? 

Or  do  I  hear  a  voice  of  dreadful  import, 

The  wild  and  mingling  groans  of  writhing  millions, 

Calling  for  vengeance  on  my  guilty  land? 

"  Oh  that  my  head  were  waters,  and  mine  eyes 
A  fount  of  tears !  —  Columbia  !  in  thy  bosom 
Can  slavery  dwell  ? —  Then  is  thy  fame  a  lie  ! 
Can  Oppression  lift  his  hideous,  gorgon  head 
Beneath  the  eye  of  FREEDOM  •?  —  Oh  my  country ! 
This  deep  anathema  —  this  direst  evil, 
'  Like  a  foul  blot  on  thy  dishonored  brow,' 
Mars  all  thy  beauty;  and  thy, far-famed  glory 
Is  but  a  gilded  toy,  for  fools  to  play  with ! 
For  in  the  mock'ry  of  thy  boasted  freedom 
Thou  smil'st,  with  deadly  joy,  on  human  woe  ! 
Thy  soul  is  nourished  with  tears  and  blood,  Columbia ! 
0  let  the  deepest  blush  of  honest  shame 
Crimson  thy  cheek!  for  vile  Oppression  walks 
Within  thy  borders  !  —  rears  his  brazen  front 
'Neath  thy  unchiding  eye  !  " 

The  next  editorial  reference  to  the  subject  is  found  at 
the  conclusion  of  an  article  on  the  approaching  "  Fourth 
of  July,"  in  which,  after  reviewing  the  wonderful  prog 
ress,  material  and  intellectual,  of  the  nation,  during  its 
first  fifty  years,  and  rehearsing  the  causes  for  gratitude 
and  thanksgiving,  Mr.  Garrison  adds  : 

"Thus  much  for  the  favorable  side  of  the  picture.     But  are 
there  no  dark  shades  to  be  seen  ?  Is  there  nothing  to  fear  for  our 
VOL.  I.— 5 


CHAP.  IV. 
1826-1828. 


Free  Press, 

June  29, 

1826. 


66 


WILLIAM  LLOYD   GARRISON. 


[2ET.  21-23. 


CHAP.  IV. 
1826-1828. 


Free  Press, 

June  8, 

1826. 


future  safety  ?  While,  on  the  one  hand,  imaginary  evils  may 
be  called  up,  on  the  other,  we  cannot  be  too  Argus-eyed  to 
detect  real  ones.  Upon  this  point  we  conceive  that  our  4th  of 
July  Orators  generally  fail.  Their  orations  should  be  com 
posed,  not  merely  of  rhapsodies  upon  the  deeds  of  our  fathers 
—  of  a  tame  repetition  of  the  wrongs  which  they  suffered,  of 
ceaseless  apostrophes  to  liberty,  and  fierce  denunciations  of 
tyranny  —  but  they  should  also  abound  with  wholesome  politi 
cal  axioms  and  reflections  —  the  rock  should  be  pointed  out 
upon  which  other  nations  have  split  —  the  pruning-knif e  should 
lop  off  every  excrescence  of  vanity —  and  our  follies  and  virtues 
should  be  skilfully  held  up  in  equal  light.  There  is  one  theme 
which  should  be  dwelt  upon,  till  our  whole  country  is  free  from 
the  curse  — it  is  SLAVERY." 

These  slight  allusions  to  the  theme  which  afterwards 
engrossed  his  life  are  all  that  can  be  detected  in  the 
editorial  columns  of  the  Free  Press  during  Mr.  Garrison's 
conduct  of  it.  The  most  important  episode  of  his  editorial 
career  in  Newburyport  remains  to  be  described. 

With  the  exception  of  the  first  number,  in  which 
PercivaFs  poem  on  "New  England"  was  given  the  place 
of  honor,  each  issue  of  the  Free  Press  contained  one  or 
more  of  Mrs.  Hemans's  poems ;  and  without  these  it  is 
doubtful  if  the  editor  would  have  attempted  to  give  a 
column  of  poetry  every  week.  Very  few  original  poems 
were  sent  to  him  that  were  worth  printing,  but  in  the 
twelfth  number  of  his  paper  there  appeared  some  verses 
entitled  "  The  Exile's  Departure,"  of  which  the  first  will 
suffice  to  show  the  measure  and  quality : 

"  Fond  scenes,  which  delighted  my  youthful  existence, 

With  feelings  of  sorrow  I  bid  ye  adieu  — 
A  lasting  adieu!  for  now,  dim  in  the  distance, 

The  shores  of  Hibernia  recede  from  my  view. 
Farewell  to  the  cliffs,  tempest-beaten  and  grey, 

Which  guard  the  lov'd  shores  of  my  own  native  land ; 
Farewell  to  the  village  and  sail-shadow'd  bay, 

The  forest-crown'd  hill  and  the  water- wash'd  strand." 

They  were  signed  "  W.,  Haverhill,  June  1,  1826,"  and 
a  note  on  the  preceding  page  indicated  that  the  editor 
had  received  them  with  unusual  satisfaction  : 


.  21-23.] 


EDITORIAL  EXPERIMENTS. 


67 


CHAP.  IV. 
1826-1828. 


MS.,  Lec 
ture  on 
Whittier. 


"  If  '  W.,'  at  Haverhill,  will  continue  to  favor  us  with  pieces, 
beautiful  as  the  one  inserted  in  our  poetical  department  of 
to-day,  we  shall  esteem  it  a  favor." 

The  manner  in  which  this  came  to  him,  and  his  im 
mediate  search  for  the  author,  are  best  described  in  Mr. 
Garrison's  own  words : 

"  Going  upstairs  to  my  office,  one  day,  I  observed  a  letter 
lying  near  the  door,  to  my  address ;  which,  on  opening,  I  found 
to  contain  an  original  piece  of  poetry  for  my  paper,  the  Free 
Press.  The  ink  was  very  pale,  the  handwriting  very  small  j 
and,  having  at  that  time  a  horror  of  newspaper  '  original  poe 
try,' —  which  has  rather  increased  than  diminished  with  the 
lapse  of  time, —  my  first  impulse  was  to  tear  it  in  pieces,  with 
out  reading  it ;  the  chances  of  rejection,  after  its  perusal,  being 
as  ninety-nine  to  one  ;  .  .  .  but,  summoning  resolution  to 
read  it,  I  was  equally  surprised  and  gratified  to  find  it  above 
mediocrity,  and  so  gave  it  a  place  in  my  journal.  ...  As 
I  was  anxious  to  find  out  the  writer,  my  post-rider  one  day 
divulged  the  secret  —  stating  that  he  had  dropped  the  letter  in 
the  manner  described,  and  that  it  was  written  by  a  Quaker  lad, 
named  Whittier,  who  was  daily  at  work  on  the  shoemaker's 
bench,  with  hammer  and  lapstone,  at  East  Haverhill.  Jumping 
into  a  vehicle,  I  lost  no  time  in  driving  to  see  the  youthful  rustic 
bard,  who  came  into  the  room  with  shrinking  diffidence,  almost 
unable  to  speak,  and  blushing  like  a  maiden.  Giving  him 
some  words  of  encouragement,  I  addressed  myself  more  par 
ticularly  to  his  parents,  and  urged  them  with  great  earnestness 
to  grant  him  every  possible  facility  for  the  development  of  his 
remarkable  genius." 

We  continue  the  narrative  from  an  editorial  article  in 
the  National  Philanthropist,  still  in  Mr.  Garrison's  own     April 
words : 

"  Almost  as  soon  as  he  could  write,  he  [Whittier]  gave  evi 
dence  of  the  precocity  and  strength  of  his  poetical  genius,  and 
when  unable  to  procure  paper  and  ink,  a  piece  of  chalk  or 
charcoal  was  substituted.  He  indulged  his  propensity  for 
rhyming  with  so  much  secrecy,  (as  his  father  informed  us,) 
that  it  was  only  by  removing  some  rubbish  in  the  garret,  where 
he  had  concealed  his  manuscripts,  that  the  discovery  was  made. 
This  bent  of  his  mind  was  discouraged  by  his  parents :  they 
were  in  indigent  circumstances,  and  unable  to  give  him  a  suit- 


1828. 


68 


WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON. 


[JET.  21-23. 


CHAP.  IV.  able  education,  and  they  did  not  wish  to  inspire  him  with  hopes 
1826-1828  wni°h  might  never  be  fulfilled.  .  .  .  We  endeavored  to 
speak  cheeringly  of  the  prospects  of  their  son ;  we  dwelt  upon 
the  impolicy  of  warring  against  nature,  of  striving  to  quench 
the  first  kindlings  of  a  flame  which  might  burn  like  a  star  in 
our  literary  horizon  —  and  we  spoke  too  of  fame  —  *  Sir,'  re 
plied  his  father,  with  an  emotion  which  went  home  to  our  bosom 
like  an  electric  shock,  '  poetry  will  not  give  him  breads  What 
could  we  say  ?  The  fate  of  Chatterton,  Otway,  and  the  whole 
catalogue  of  those  who  had  perished  by  neglect,  rushed  upon 
our  memory,  and  —  we  were  silent." 

The  mischief  was  done,  however,  and  the  youthful 
poet  (whose  eldest  sister  had  sent  "The  Exile's  Depar 
ture"  to  the  Free  Press  office  without  his  knowledge), 
having  now  seen  his  own  verses  in  print,  and  received 
warm  encouragement  from  the  editor,  contributed  there 
after  to  almost  every  number  of  the  paper  so  long  as 
Mr.  Garrison  retained  control  of  it.  Two  weeks  after  the 
publication  of  Whittier's  first  poem,  a  second,  in  blank 

Under- ^     verse,  entitled  "  The  Deity,"  appeared,  with  an  editorial 
of  Wkittler,  paragraph  declaring  that  his  poetry  bore  the  stamp  of 

*' 39  '  true  poetic  genius,  which,  if  carefully  cultivated,  would 
rank  him  among  the  bards  of  his  country.  Other  pieces 
followed,  on  such  themes  as  "  The  Vale  of  the  Merrimack," 
"  The  Death  of  Alexander/'  "  The  Voice  of  Time,"  "  The 
Burial  of  the  Princess  Charlotte  of  Wales,"  "To  the 
Memory  of  William  Perm,"  "The  Shipwreck,"  "  Paul- 
owna,"  "  Memory,"  "  Benevolence,"  etc.,  but  they  are  so 
little  above  mediocrity  that  it  is  not  easy  to  see  wherein 
Mr.  Garrison  so  instantly  discovered  the  stamp  of  genius 
and  the  presage  of  future  distinction  as  a  poet ;  and 
Mr.  Whittier  has  never  deemed  them  worth  including  in 
his  collected  poems. 

The  copy  of  the  Free  Press  containing  his  first  poem 
was  flung  to  the  boy  Whittier  by  the  carrier  or  post- 
rider,  one  day,  while  he  was  helping  his  uncle  Moses 
repair  a  stone  wall  by  the  roadside ;  and,  stopping  for  a 
moment  to  open  and  glance  at  it,  he  was  so  dazed  and 
bewildered  by  seeing  his  lines  in  print,  that  he  stared  at 


Mi.  21-23. J  EDITOKIAL   EXPERIMENTS.  69 

them  without  the  ability  to  read,  until  his  uncle  had  CHAP.  iv. 
finally  to  recall  him  to  his  senses  and  his  work.  Again  1826^1828. 
and  again,  however,  he  would  steal  a  glance  at  the  paper 
to  assure  himself  that  he  had  not  been  mistaken.  Subse 
quently,  when  Mr.  Garrison  (accompanied  by  a  friend) 
sought  out  his  new  contributor,  the  boy  was  again  at 
work  in  the  field,  barefooted,  and  clad  only  in  shirt, 
pantaloons,  and  straw  hat ;  and  on  being  summoned  to 
the  house  by  his  sister,  he  slipped  in  at  the  back  door  in 
order  to  put  on  his  shoes  and  coat  before  presenting  him 
self  shyly  and  awkwardly  to  the  visitors,  whose  errand  was 
as  yet  unknown  to  him.  Before  Mr.  Garrison  had  spoken 
more  than  a  few  encouraging  words  to  him,  the  father 
appeared  on  the  scene,  anxious  to  learn  the  motive  of 
this  unusual  call.  "  Is  this  Friend  Whittier  ? n  was  the 
inquiry.  u  Yes,"  he  responded.  "  We  want  to  see  you 
about  your  son."  u  Why,  what  has  the  boy  been  doing  ? " 
he  asked  anxiously,  and  was  visibly  relieved  to  learn 
that  the  visit  was  one  of  friendly  interest,  merely. 

To  the  young  Quaker  lad,  then  in  his  nineteenth  year, 
it  was  a  most  important  event,  determining  his  career, 
for  the  encouragement  he  now  received  from  Mr.  Garri 
son,  aided  by  the  latter's  impressive  appeal  to  his  parents, 
gave  him  his  first  resolution  to  get  a  good  education. 
By  sewing  slippers  at  the  shoemaker's  bench,  he  earned 
enough  to  pay  for  his  tuition  at  the  Haverhill  Academy 
the  following  spring.  The  next  winter  he  taught  school, 
and  was  thus  enabled  to  pay  for  another  six  months'  in 
struction  at  the  Academy.  His  subsequent  introduc 
tion  to  an  editorial  career  continuing  several  years, 
and  giving  him  valuable  experience  if  not  much  pecu 
niary  profit,  was  also  brought  about  by  Mr.  Garrison,  as 
will  be  hereafter  related,  and  thus  began  a  life-long  and 
unbroken  friendship. 

The  Free  Press  of  September  14,  1826,  completed  the 
sixth  month  of  the  paper's  existence,  and  the  editor,  in 
mentioning  the  fact,  stated  that  the  encouragement 
received  had  equalled  his  expectations.  "  He  was  well 


70 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKEISON. 


.  21-23. 


1826-1828. 


CHAP.  iv.  aware,"  he  added,  referring  to  the  inception  of  the  paper, 
"  of  the  difficulty  of  satisfactorily  conducting  a  weekly 
journal — of  infusing  into  its  columns  a  lively  and  con 
tinued  interest —  and  of  presenting  a  full  and  accurate 
view  of  passing  events;  but  he  was  not  discouraged. 
Independent  of  political  feelings,  he  has  the  vanity  to 
believe  that  his  selections  have  generally  given  satisfac 
tion,  and  that  the  paper  has  proved  an  equivalent  for  its 
price."  In  another  column,  however,  he  advertised  that, 
"  influenced  by  considerations  of  importance  only  to  him 
self,  and  wishing  to  alter  his  present  line  of  business,'7 
he  offered  his  establishment,  with  its  attending  privileges, 
at  a  reasonable  price,  if  purchase  be  made  immediately ; 
and  the  following  week  he  announced  the  sale  and 
transfer  of  the  paper  to  Mr.  John  H.  Harris.  This  gen 
tleman,  who  was  encouraged  to  come  from  another  town 
and  embark  in  the  enterprise,  hoped,  by  reversing  the 
politics  of  the  paper  once  more,  to  recover  the  support 
of  the  Republican  subscribers  whom  Mr.  Garrison  had 
lost.  An  immediate  change  of  front  took  place,  and 
instead  of  the  Hon.  John  Varnum,  whom  Mr.  Garrison 
had  urged,  in  his  last  number,  for  election  to  Congress 
from  that  district,  the  Free  Press  now  ardently  advocated 
the  claims  of  Caleb  Gushing,  his  opponent.  But  this 
attempt  to  galvanize  and  keep  the  paper  alive  utterly 
failed,  and  at  the  end  of  three  months  its  publication 
ceased.  Mr.  Garrison's  valedictory,  on  surrendering  the 
paper,  was  as  follows : 

"  The  establishment  of  a  free  press  in  Newburyport  —  one 
open  to  all  parties  and  bound  down  to  none  —  was  an  event 
which  could  not  fail  to  offend  and  to  surprise.  This  is  a  time 
serving  age ;  and  he  who  attempts  to  walk  uprightly  or  speak 
honestly,  cannot  rationally  calculate  upon  speedy  wealth  or 
preferment.  Men  had  rather  be  nattered  than  reproved  — 
compliments  are  palatable,  but  plain,  homely  truths  cannot  be 
digested.  The  Editor  who  lashes  public  follies  and  vices,  who 
strips  deception  of  its  borrowed  garb,  and  aims  his  shafts  at 
corruption,  may  be  accused  of  arrogance  and  unchastened  zeal 
—  of  hatred,  and  malice,  and  envy  —  of  an  unforgiving,  un- 


Free  Press 

Sept.  21, 

1826. 


^ET.  21-23.]  EDITORIAL   EXPERIMENTS.  71 

charitable,  intemperate  spirit  —  but  he  will  hardly  be  praised  CHAP.  IV. 
for  his  labors.  If  the  tone  of  the  Free  Press  has  sometimes 
given  offence  by  its  frankness,  that  frankness  has  also  secured 
it  many  friends  :  if  the  lash  has  been  occasionally  misapplied, 
it  has  more  frequently  scourged  the  intended  victims  :  if  many 
have  discontinued,  more  have  filled  their  places.  The  present 
transfer  has  been  made,  not  because  any  high  expectations 
have  not  been  realized,  but  for  other  inducements. 

11  As  the  Massachusetts  Claim  was  the  first  object  of  the  sub 
scriber's  attention,  so  also  shall  it  be  the  last.  The  swift 
approach  of  the  next  session  of  Congress  brings  this  claim,  in  all 
its  aggravated  neglect,  to  memory,  and  demands  a  solemn  consid 
eration.  The  insults  which  have  been  so  repeatedly  heaped  upon 
this  State,  are  enough  to  stir  the  spirit  of  every  man  who  scorns 
to  be  a  slave.  It  is  not  the  paltry  sum  of  $800,000,  nor  that  the 
Commonwealth  is  reduced  to  beggary,  that  causes  this  emotion : 
but  it  is  the  long,  deliberate,  intentional  injustice  exercised 
towards  a  State  whose  services  are  based  on  the  same  founda 
tion  as  those  of  sister  States.  The  claims  of  Georgia,  Mary 
land,  Virginia,  etc.,  have  been  promptly  liquidated,  while  poor 
Massachusetts,  in  spite  of  her  confession,  recantation,  and 
pardon, —  in  spite  of  her  sacrifices  and  toils, —  has  her  just  dues 
withheld,  and  gets  nothing !  When  the  rights  of  a  State  are 
disregarded,  it  is  time  for  the  people  to  lay  aside  political  dis 
tinctions,  and  unitedly  to  demand  redress.  This  is  a  question 
of  RIGHT  —  and  it  must  be  heard.  If  another  session  of  Con 
gress  prove  indifferent  to  this  matter,  a  note  of  remonstrance 
may  hereafter  be  made  that i  will  reach  every  log-house  beyond 
the  mountains.'  There  is  a  point  beyond  which  forbearance 
cannot  pass,  and  submission  would  be  criminal. 

"  WM.  L.  GARRISON." 

The  retirement  of  Mr.  Garrison  from  the  Free  Press 
elicited  an  expression  of  regret  from  the  Boston  Courier 
(then  edited  by  Joseph  T.  Buckingham)  that  he  had  been 
compelled  to  relinquish  a  paper  which  he  had  con 
ducted  with  so  much  "  talent,  judgment  and  good  sense  ; " 
a  compliment  much  appreciated  by  the  recipient,  who 
found  it  rather  trying  to  his  pride  to  descend  from  a 
position  which  had  given  him  some  degree  of  dignity 
and  influence,  and  to  resume  work  as  journeyman  printer. 
He  remained  only  three  months  longer  in  Newburyport ; 


72 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAERISON. 


.  21-23. 


1826-1828. 


C.  Gushing. 


CHAP.  iv.  long  enough,  however,  to  become  enrolled  as  a  member  of 
the  local  Artillery  Company,1  and  to  take  part  in  the  politi 
cal  campaign  of  that  fall,  the  chief  feature  of  which  was 

j.  Vam-um,  the  exciting  contest  between  Mr.  Varnum  and  Mr.  Gush 
ing.  In  addition  to  writing  articles  in  the  Herald  and 
in  Salem  and  Haverhill  papers,  he  ventured  to  speak  in 
a  public  meeting  of  Mr.  Gushing' s  adherents  in  New- 
buryport,  delivering  a  scathing  rebuke  of  their  candi 
date  which  excited  great  wrath.  His  opposition  to  the 
man  whom  he  had  once  ardently  admired,  and  to  whose 
friendly  encouragement  he  owned  himself  indebted,  was 
based  partly  on  the  ground  that  the  latter  was  seeking 
to  defeat  the  regularly  nominated  Federal  candidate, 
but  more  particularly  on  a  certain  questionable  pro 
ceeding  which  he  was  accused  of  having  resorted  to,  for 
the  purpose  of  exalting  himself  over  his  competitor,  and 
which  led  to  his  own  overwhelming  defeat. 

Mr.  Garrison's  first  visit  to  Boston,  when  on  his  way 
to  Baltimore,  has  been  described  in  the  preceding  chap 
ter.  His  second  journey  to  that  city  was  made  during 
the  summer  of  1826,  while  he  was  conducting  the  Free 
Press,  and  was  even  more  unsatisfactory  than  the  first. 
Unable  to  afford  the  expense  of  the  stage  fares  both 
ways,  he  and  his  friend  Isaac  Knapp,  with  two  other 
companions,  started  on  foot,  one  intensely  hot  after 
noon,  and  reached  Salem  (twenty-four  miles  distant) 
that  night.  .  A  pair  of  tight  boots  made  the  walk  a 
most  painful  one  to  Garrison,  and  so  fatiguing  was  it  to 
the  others  that  he  and  Knapp  were  left  to  continue  the 
journey  alone,  the  next  day,  their  friends  preferring  to 
take  the  stage.  The  pedestrians  spent  a  whole  day  in 
walking  the  remaining  fourteen  miles  to  Boston,  and 
the  tight  boots  caused  such  badly  blistered  feet  that, 
after  a  night  of  torture  at  the  inn  where  they  stayed,  a 
retreat  to  Newburyport  by  stage  the  next  day,  without 

1  In  the  records  of  the  Company  the  year  of  his  enrolment  is  given  as 
1827 ;  an  error  due,  doubtless,  to  the  fact  that  the  original  books  were  lost 
a  year  or  two  later,  and  the  old  rolls  subsequently  made  up  from  the 
memory  of  the  remaining  members. 


.  21-23.] 


EDITOKIAL   EXPEKIMENTS. 


73 


1826-1828. 


1826. 


Thomas  H. 
Bennett. 


any  attempt  at  sight-seeing,  was  resolved  upon.     G-ar-    CHAP.  iv. 
rison's  feet  were  lame  and  sore  for  months  in  conse 
quence  of  this  adventure. 

In  the  following  December,  having  settled  the  affairs 
of  the  Free  Press  so  far  as  his  connection  with  it  ex 
tended,  Mr.  G-arrison  left  Newburyport  and  went  to 
Boston  to  seek  employment.  Without  means,  and  al 
most  without  an  acquaintance  in  the  city,  he  took  refuge 
at  first  with  a  printer  named  Bennett,  who  had  some 
time  previously  printed  a  translation  of  Cicero's  Ora 
tions  in  Mr.  Allen's  office,  and  who  was  now  printing  the 
Massachusetts  Weekly  Journal,  of  which  David  Lee  Child1 
was  the  editor.  Bennett  kept  a  boarding-house  in  Scott 
Court,  leading  from  Union  Street,  and  kindly  allowed  his 
young  friend  to  remain  with  him  until  he  could  obtain 
work  and  the  means  to  pay  his  board, — no  easy  matter 
at  first,  for  business  was  dull  and  many  were  out  of 
employment.  Mr.  Garrison  went  from  office  to  office, 
day  after  day,  and  week  after  week,  seeking  a  situa 
tion;  but  nearly  a  month  passed  before  he  succeeded 
in  obtaining  a  foothold  in  the  office  of  Lilley  &  Waite. 
During  the  year  1827  he  worked  in  several  offices,  among 
them  a  stereotype  foundery  on  Salem  Street,  Deacon 
Samuel  Greele's  (or  Baker  &  Greele's)  type  foundery 
on  Congress  Street,  John  H.  Eastburn's  book  and  job 
office,  also  on  Congress  Street,  and  the  office  of  the  Mas 
sachusetts  Weekly  Journal,  above  mentioned. 

Though  compelled  to  work  hard  for  a  livelihood,  his  in 
terest  in  politics  was  unabated,  and  when  a  caucus  of  the 
Federal  party  was  convened  in  July,  at  the  Exchange 
Coffee  House,  to  nominate  a  Representative  to  Congress 
to  succeed  Mr.  Webster,  who  had  just  been  promoted  to 
the  Senate,  he  attended  it.  The  "  slate  "  had  already  been 

1  A  graduate  of  Harvard  College,  in  the  class  of  1817 ;  an  able  lawyer 
and  an  active  politician,  when  induced  to  undertake  the  publication  of  the 
Journal  as  a  Whig  paper.  After  the  failure  of  that  enterprise,  he  did  not 
long  continue  in  practice  at  the  bar.  He  was  a  forcible  and  prolific  writer, 
and  a  man  of  undaunted  courage.  Mr.  Child  was  married  in  1828  to  Miss 
Lydia Maria  Francis.  (See  '  Letters  of  L.  Maria  Child, '  p.  viii.  Boston,  1883. ) 


1827. 


74 


WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAKKISON. 


.  21-23. 


CHAP.  iv.  arranged  by  the  leaders  for  the  nomination  of  Benjamin 
1826^1828.  Gorham,  a  highly  respectable  lawyer  ;  but  Mr.  Garrison, 
who  had  lost  none  of  his  admiration  for  Harrison  Gray 
Otis,  and  none  of  his  chagrin  and  vexation  over  the 
Wm.Eustis.  latter's  defeat  by  Governor  Eustis,  four  years  before,  felt 
that  the  time  had  now  come  for  the  vindication  of  the 
great  Federal  leader,  and  that  he  should  be  chosen  to 
the  seat  vacated  by  Mr.  Webster.  He  accordingly  wrote 
a  carefully  studied  speech  advocating  his  nomination, 
which  he  attempted  to  commit  to  memory,  and  then  going 
to  the  caucus  he  seized  an  early  opportunity  to  mount  a 
bench  and  speak,  as  if  extemporaneously.  His  memory  or 
his  confidence  soon  failed  him,  and  he  broke  down  j  but  the 
encouraging  applause  of  his  hearers  evinced  the  interest 
and  sympathy  which  his  first  words  had  excited,  and,  pull 
ing  his  manuscript  from  his  hat,  he  proceeded  to  read  his 
speech  to  its  conclusion.  A  strong  sentiment  in  favor  of 
Mr.  Otis  was  at  once  developed,  only  one  speaker  under- 
.  taking  to  oppose  him,  from  dissatisfaction  with  Mr.  Otis's 

position  on  the  question  of  the  Tariff,  or,  as  it  was  then 
styled,  the  "  American  System."  The  leaders  felt  that 
they  could  not  ignore  the  manifest  disposition  to  nomi 
nate  him,  and  the  caucus  was  accordingly  adjourned  for 
three  days  to  allow  time  for  consultation  and  an  inter 
view  with  Mr.  Otis,  who  absolutely  declined  the  overture, 
and  the  original  programme  was  then  harmoniously 
carried  out. 

A  brief  newspaper  controversy  ensued  between  Mr. 
Garrison  and  his  opponent  (who  signed  himself  "  S.")  in 
the  columns  of  the  Courier,  the  former  taking  the  initia 
tive  in  a  sharp  rebuke  of  the  latter  for  introducing  "  local 
interests  and  sectional  prejudices  "  to  "  a  political  assem 
bly  of  high-minded,  intelligent  Federalists,"  by  threaten 
ing  to  withhold  his  vote  from  the  nominee  of  the  caucus 
if  he  should  not  reflect  his  views  on  the  Tariff.  In 
this  communication,  which  bore  the  thinly  disguised  sig 
nature  of  "G n,"  Mr.  Garrison  undertook  to  explain 

his  own  views  on  the  vexed  question  which  was  begin- 


July  12, 
1827. 


JET.  21-23.]  EDITORIAL   EXPERIMENTS.  75 

ning  to  divide  parties  and  create  lasting  dissensions,  j  CHAP.  iv. 
While  captivated  by  the  protection  theory  and  the  plausi-  j  1826^1828. 


ble  arguments  in  favor  of  the  "  American  System/'  he 
sympathized  also  with  the  fears  of  the  commercial  classes  j 
that  a  high  tariff  would  seriously  cripple  their  interests,  ( 
and  so  he  rather  vaguely  expressed  himself  as  strongly  ( 
"in    favor    of    commerce  and    against    an    exorbitant) 
tariff " —  an  "  equilibrium  "  which  he  admitted  the  diffi 
culty  of  maintaining.     "  The  great  desideratum,  there 
fore/'  he  concluded,  "  is  to  find  that  medium  in  national 
policy  which  shall  whiten  every  ocean  with  our  canvas, 
and  erect  a  manufactory  by  every  favorable  stream." 

In  a  brief  rejoinder  to  this  letter,  his  antagonist  "  S." 
showed  that  he  had  not  yet  recovered  from  the  shock 
caused  him  by  the  audacious  interference  of  the  young 
man  at  the  caucus  : 

"  Under  the  head  of  '  Representative  Election/  I  observed  a       Boston 
communication  in  your  paper  of  yesterday,  to  which  I  will  make      jufy"^, 

a  few  brief  and  final  remarks,  and  then  leave  it  to  Mr.  G n's        1827. 

own  conscience  to  say  whether  he  can  or  cannot  speak  or  write 
himself  into  notice,  as  I  conceive  this  to  be  the  young  gentle 
man's  object. 

"  After  the  organization  of  a  primary  meeting  of  Federalists, 

on  the  evening  of  the  9th  inst.,  Mr.  G n  first  arose  and 

addressed  the  electors  with  much  verbosity,  until  his  ideas 
became  exhausted,  when  he  had  recourse  to  his  hat,  which  ap 
peared  to  be  well  filled  with  copious  notes,  from  which  he  drew 
liberally,  to  make  (for  aught  I  know)  his  maiden  speech.  An 
inquiry  went  round  the  room  to  know  who  the  speaker  was; 
with  some  difficulty  I  found  out  his  name  5  but  he  shortly  after 
discovered  himself,  by  saying  he  had  resided  in  this  metropolis 
six  months  —  six  whole  months.  He  proceeded  on,  and  with  ex 
treme  modesty  took  the  liberty  to  designate  a  candidate  for 
member  of  Congress,  to  take  the  place  of  Mr.  Webster.  It  is 
very  true  that  the  gentleman  he  named  stands  high  in  the 
estimation  of  the  public,  and  were  not  his  opinions  on  the 
tariff  not  made  up,  I  should  be  very  happy  to  see  him  in  the 
councils  of  our  nation.  I  objected  to  him  on  that  ground  alone : 
was  it  so  extraordinary  that  I  should  candidly  object,  as  that 

he  (Mr.  G n)  should,  with  consummate  assurance,  take  upon 

himself  to  make  the  first  nomination  to  the  respectable  electors 


76 


WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON. 


[JEi.  21-23. 


CHAP.  IV. 

1826-1828. 


Boston 

Courier, 

July  14, 

1827. 


then  present,  contrary  to  all  usage  and  custom  at  primary 
caucuses  ?  It  has  ever  been  the  invariable  rule  at  such  meet 
ings,  never  to  make  a  nomination  till  a  vote  has  been  passed 
to  that  effect,  and  the  nomination  called  for.  If  the  young 
gentleman  of  six  months'  standing  had  possessed  more  in 
formation  on  the  subject,  he  would  have  known  that  poli 
tics  had  less  weight  with  a  great  number  of  gentlemen  who 
assembled,  than  the  tariff  and  anti-tariff  question,  and  that 
there  were  present  gentlemen  on  both  sides,  pledged  to  their 
own  measures.  I  can  assure  the  gentleman  that  his  enmity  or 
favor,  his  good  or  bad  opinion  of  me,  is  not  a  matter  of  the 
smallest  consequence  j  and  permit  me  to  observe  further,  that  it 
is  revolting  to  my  ideas  of  propriety,  to  see  a  stranger,  a  man 
who  never  paid  a  tax  in  our  city,  and  perhaps  nowhere  else,  to 
possess  the  impudence  to  take  the  lead  and  nominate  a  candidate 
for  the  electors  of  Boston. 

"  S." 

The  Courier  of  the  following  day  contained  a  prompt 
answer  to  this  communication,  from  which  the  following 
extracts  are  worth  subjoining,  both  for  the  conscious 
power  betrayed  in  the  first  paragraph,  and  for  the  ex 
pressions  of  admiration  for  Harrison  Gray  Otis  : 

"  I  sympathize  with  the  gentleman  in  the  difficulty  which  he 
found  to  learn  my  cognomination.  It  is  true  that  my  acquaint 
ance  in  this  city  is  limited  —  I  have  sought  for  none.  Let  me 
assure  him,  however,  that  if  my  life  be  spared,  my  name  shall 
one  day  be  known  to  the  world, —  at  least  to  such  extent  that 
common  inquiry  shall  be  unnecessary.  This,  I  know,  will  be 
deemed  excessive  vanity  —  but  time  shall  prove  it  prophetic. 

"  It  gives  me  pain,  sir,  to  accuse  your  correspondent  of  wilful 
misrepresentation  ;  but  his  assertion  is  too  broad  to  pass  unre- 
futed.  I  did  not  '  take  upon  myself  to  make  the  first  nomina 
tion  to  the  respectable  electors  '  of  Boston.  Again  and  again  I 
disclaimed  any  intention  of  biassing  their  predilections.  The 
eulogy  upon  Mr.  Otis  may  have  been  gratuitous,  and  out  of 
place ;  this  is  not  for  me  to  determine,  though  I  am  half  inclined 
to  coincide  with  the  gentleman  j  but  to  the  latest  hour  of  my 
life,  I  shall  rejoice  that  I  was  permitted  publicly  to  express  my 
sentiments  in  favor  of  a  man  who  has  my  strongest  affections, 
in  unison  with  those  of  the  whole  Federal  party.  So  far  from 
believing,  however,  (for  obvious  reasons,)  that  this  distinguished 


JET.  21-23.  J 


EDITORIAL   EXPERIMENTS. 


77 


individual  would  be  put  in  nomination,  I  went  to  the  meeting 
with  an  expectation  of  no  such  result.  Yet,  sir,  this  belief  did 
injustice  to  the  wishes  of  a  large  majority  of  the  electors  present  — 
THEY  WANTED  MR.  OTIS, — no  other  man  could  have  been  nom 
inated.  Disguise  his  feelings  as  he  may,  it  was  the  strong 
evidence  of  this  fact  —  it  was  the  emphatic  voice  of  a  whole 
assembly,  and  not  my  feeble  echo, —  that  alarmed  the  selfishness 
and  roused  the  hostility  of  your  querulous  correspondent.  .  .  . 

"  The  little,  paltry  sneers  at  my  youth,  by  your  correspond 
ent,  have  long  since  become  pointless.  It  is  the  privileged 
abuse  of  old  age  —  the  hackneyed  allegation  of  a  thousand 
centuries  —  the  damning  crime  to  which  all  men  have  been  sub 
jected.  I  leave  it  to  metaphysicians  to  determine  the  precise 
moment  when  wisdom  and  experience  leap  into  existence, — 
when,  for  the  first  time,  the  mind  distinguishes  truth  from 
error,  selfishness  from  patriotism,  and  passion  from  reason.  It 
is  sufficient  for  me  that  I  am  understood 

"  If,  sir,  the  gentleman  will  call  on  me  in  person,  I  will 
satisfy  him  that  I  have  '  paid  taxes '  elsewhere,  if  not  for  a  few 
months'  residence  in  this  city.  I  admire  his  industry  in  search 
ing  the  books  of  the  Treasurer  —  it  speaks  well  for  his  patriot 
ism  ;  and,  to  relieve  him  from  further  inquiries,  I  promise  to 
become  a  legal  voter  with  all  commendable  haste. 

"  The  hours  which  should  be  devoted  to  labor,  Mr.  Editor, 
allow  me  little  time  to  indulge  in  newspaper  essays.  Poverty 
and  misfortune  are  hard  masters,  and  cannot  be  bribed  by  the 
magic  of  words.  However,  I  am  willing  to  sacrifice  one  meal, 
at  least,  in  order  that  justice  may  be  done  to  the  '  tariff  and 
anti-tariff  question,'  which  your  correspondent  has  submitted  to 
my  consideration.  It  shall  be  done  some  time  previous  to  the 
election.  I  do  not  pretend  to  much  information  on  this  subject ; 
but,  to  my  perception,  there  appears  but  one  great  interest  to 
be  involved,  one  straightforward  liberal  policy  to  be  pursued, 
one  cause  to  be  maintained,  one  generous  desire  to  be  gratified. 

"  G N." 

The  promised  article  on  the  tariff  followed  a  few  days 
later,  and  was  a  defence  of  the  policy  which  was  expected 
to  make  the  republic  independent  of  Great  Britain  and 
other  nations,  and  able,  by  the  development  of  its  re 
sources  and  industries,  to  supply  all  its  own  wants. 

Although  at  first  appalled  by  the  size  and  apparent  in 
tricacy  of  the  city,  and  confused  by  its  turmoil,  Mr. 


CHAP.  IV. 
1826-1828. 


Cf.  ante,  p. 

23-  < 


Boston 

Courier, 

July  23, 

1827. 


78  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GARRISON.  [^T.  21-23. 


CHAP.  iv.  G-arrison  became  much  attached  to  Boston,  and  greatly 
1826^1828.  enjoyed  the  advantages  and  opportunities  which  city  life 
afforded  him.  While  remaining  firm  in  the  Baptist  faith, 
he  yet  delighted  to  listen  to  the  preaching  of  Lyman 
Beecher,  in  Hanover-Street  Church,  to  William  Ellery 
Channing,  in  Federal  Street,  arid  to  John  Pierpont,  in  Hol- 
lis  Street  j  and  though  he  grieved  that  the  two  last-named 
divines  were  so  unsound  in  their  theological  views,  and 
wandered  so  far  from  the  true  faith,  he  had  unbounded 
admiration  for  their  intellectual  ability,  and  profound 
respect  for  their  personal  character.  Occasionally,  too, 
he  would  go  to  Dr.  Malcolm's  church,  for  the  sake  of 
seeing  the  lovely  face  of  Miss  Emily  Marshall,  whose 
fame  as  the  belle  of  Boston  at  that  day  was  national,  and 
whose  goodness  of  heart  and  simple,  unaffected  ways 
were  universally  admitted  and  praised.  Many  young 
men  were  led  to  worship  at  Dr.  Malcolm's  by  the  same 
attraction,  and  it  was  a  matter  of  daily  occurrence  for 
them  to  promenade  up  and  down  Franklin  Street,  where 
her  parents  lived,  in  the  hope  of  getting  a  glimpse  of 
her,  even  at  her  window.1 

The  public  holidays  also  presented  new  scenes  of 
interest  and  enjoyment  to  the  young  printer,  and  when, 
a  few  years  later,  he  was  incarcerated  in  Baltimore  jail, 
he  employed  some  of  his  leisure  hours  in  recounting  in 
verse  his  recollections  of  "training  days"  on  Boston 

l  "  There  are  a  few  old  people  still  living  who  will  justify  me  in  saying 
that  centuries  are  likely  to  come  and  go  before  society  will  again  gaze, 
spell-bound,  upon  a  woman  so  richly  endowed  with  beauty  as  was  Miss 
Emily  Marshall.  I  well  know  the  peril  which  lies  in  superlatives,  —  they 
were  made  for  the  use  of  very  young  persons  ;  but  in  speaking  of  this 
gracious  lady,  even  the  cooling  influences  of  more  than  half  a  century  do 
not  enable  me  to  avoid  them.  She  was  simply  perfect  in  face  and  figure, 
and  perfectly  charming  in  manners.  .  .  .  And  this  perfect  personation 
of  loveliness  was  beloved  by  women  no  less  than  she  was  admired  by  men. 
.  .  .  She  stood  before  us  a  reversion  to  that  faultless  type  of  structure 
which  artists  have  imagined  in  the  past,  and  that  ideal  loveliness  of 
feminine  disposition  which  poets  have  placed  in  the  mythical  golden  age  " 
(Josiah  Quincy,  of  the  Class  of  1821,  Harvard  College,  in  '  Figures  of  the 
Past/  pp.  334-337).  Miss  Marshall  married  a  son  of  Harrison  Gray  Otis 
(Muzzey's  '  Reminiscences  and  Memorials,'  pp.  39-41). 


Mi.  21-23.]  EDITOKIAL   EXPEEIMENTS.  79 

Common.     His  love  for  the  city  itself  is  betrayed  in  the    CHAP.  iv. 
last  of  the  three  verses  quoted  below :  1826^1828. 

"  I  always  like  a  Boston  carnival  —  Lib.  i :  92. 

And  nothing  better  than  '  election  week ' ; 
It  comes  to  all  a  happy  annual  — 

('Tis  not  too  late,  in  June,  its  scenes  to  seek ;) 
Schools  are  vacated  —  crowded  is  the  mall 

With  roguish  boys,  who  Latin  learn  and  Greek  ; 
Senate  and  House  are  there  —  per  diem  pay 
Three  dollars.     Who  on  such  terms  would  not  play1? 

"  Light  infantry  parade,  and  that  artillery 

Whose  cognomen  is  l  HONORABLE  AND  ANCIENT  '  j 

The  ladies  form  a  beautiful  auxiliary, 
Fairer  than  summer  flowers,  and  quite  as  transient ; 

And  so  they'd  flock  in  crowds  around  a  pillory  — 
Most  strange  to  tell !  without  a  voice  dissentient : 

These  creatures  have  a  boundless  curiosity, 

And  are  as  noted  for  their  fine  verbosity. 

"  I  went  to  see  the  show  in  '27  — 

To  be  precise,  about  four  years  ago  ; 
(I  think  if  our  first  parents  had  been  driven 

From  Paradise  to  Boston,  their  deep  woe 
Had  lost  its  keenness  —  no  place  under  heaven, 

For  worth  or  loveliness,  had  pleased  them  so; 
Particularly  if  they  had  resided 
In  that  fine  house  for  David  Sears 1  provided.)" 

After  staying  awhile  with  Bennett,  Mr.  Garrison 
changed  his  abode  and  went  to  board  with  the  Rev. 
William  Collier,  a  Baptist  city  missionary,  who  lived 
at  No.  30  Federal  Street  (on  the  east  side),  near  Milk. 
To  Mr.  Collier  belongs  the  credit  of  having  established 
the  first  paper  in  the  world  devoted  mainly  to  the  tem 
perance  cause,  and  advocating  total  abstinence  from  the 
use  of  intoxicating  liquors.  On  the  4th  of  March,  1826, 
the  same  month  in  which  Mr.  Garrison  began  his  edi 
torial  career  on  the  Free  Press,  the  first  number  of  the 

l  The  granite  "swell-front"  on  Beacon  Street,  now  (1885)  occupied  by 
the  Somerset  Club. 


80  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON.  [-Ex.  21-23, 

CHAP.  iv.  National  Philanthropist,  "  devoted  to  the  suppression  of 
1826-1828.  intemperance  and  its  kindred  vices,  and  to  the  promo 
tion  of  industry,  education,  and  morality,"  was  issued 
by  Mr.  Collier.  Its  motto  was  a  new  and  startling  one, 
— "Moderate  Drinking  is  the  Downhill  Road  to  Intem 
perance  and  Drunkenness," — and  it  had,  at  the  outset, 
the  indorsement  of  the  "Massachusetts  Society  for  the 
Suppression  of  Intemperance,"  the  first  State  temperance 
society  formed  in  America.  The  temperance  movement, 
however,  was  then  in  its  infancy,  and  the  paper,  like 
all  reformatory  journals,  had  a  meagre  support.  Its 
printer,  Nathaniel  H.  White,  also  boarded  at  Mr.  Collier's, 
and  shared  Mr.  Garrison's  room,  and  after  a  time  the 
latter  went  into  the  office  of  the  Philanthropist  to  set 
type.  The  paper  (a  four-page  sheet,  with  four  columns 
to  the  page)  was  then  published  at  No.  11,  Merchants7 
Hall,  on  the  northeast  corner  of  Congress  and  Water 
Streets.  The  post-office  occupied  the  lower  story  of  the 
building. 

On  the  4th  of  January,  1828,  the  editorship  of  the 
paper  was  intrusted  to  Mr.  Garrison,  but  his  name  did 
not  appear  in  connection  with  it  until  three  months 
later,  when  Mr.  Collier  sold  the  paper  to  White,  who 
formally  announced  the  change  and  placed  the  names  of 
himself  and  Garrison  at  the  head  of  the  paper,  as  pro 
prietor  and  editor  respectively.  The  number  of  columns 
was  increased  from  sixteen  to  twenty  in  January,  and 
the  size  of  the  page  was  still  further  enlarged  in  April, 
while  an  immediate  improvement  in  the  make-up  and 
appearance  of  the  sheet  was  perceptible  from  the  day 
when  the  new  editor  assumed  control.  Still  more  marked 
were  the  new  vigor  infused  into  the  paper,  the  bold  and 
aggressive  tone  of  its  editorials,  and  the  practical  methods 
suggested  and  urged  for  the  furtherance  of  the  temper 
ance  cause.  Its  friends  were  reminded  that  they  ought 
to  acquaint  the  public,  through  the  Philanthropist,  with 
the  meetings  held  and  the  work  done  in  their  localities, 
and  an  earnest  appeal  was  made  for  their  cooperation  in 


Mi.  21-23. J  EDITOKIAL   EXPEKIMENTS.  81 

* 

promptly  reporting  such  in  its  columns.  Voters  were  CHAP.  iv. 
urged  to  scrutinize  the  moral  character  of  candidates  for  !82<^i828. 
office,  and  the  necessity  for  concerted  action  on  the  part 
of  temperance  men  in  politics  was  emphasized.  The 
custom  of  "  company-treating,"  as  the  furnishing  of 
liquor  to  the  militia  on  training  days  was  called,  was 
then  universal,  and  scenes  of  drunkenness  and  debauch 
ery  were  naturally  the  result.  The  Philanthropist  vigor 
ously  assailed  it,  and  the  editor  wrote  an  "Address  to 
the  Privates  of  Militia  and  Independent  Companies/'  to 
be  read  aloud  to  such  as  were  willing  to  consider  the 
subject.  Until  that  year,  licensed  vendors  of  intoxicat 
ing  drinks  were  permitted  to  sell  them  freely  at  booths 
and  tables  on  Boston  Common,  on  public  holidays  ;  and 
the  order  of  the  Mayor  and  Aldermen  prohibiting  it 
appeared  in  the  Philanthropist^  as  did  also  a  portion  of 
an  admirable  and  courageous  address  by  the  Rev.  John 
Pierpont  on  the  evils  of  the  militia  system,  and  the  use- 
lessness  and  inefficiency  of  military  musters.  Mr.  Gar.- 
rison  listened  with  delight  to  this  address,  delivered 
before  the  Ancient  and  Honorable  Artillery  Company, 
which  had  incautiously  invited  Mr.  Pierpont  to  preach 
the  annual  sermon  for  that  year. 

The  universal  use  of  intoxicating  liquors  on  almost 
every  occasion  where  men  assembled  together,  sixty  years 
ago,  can  be  faintly  indicated  now  by  the  statement  that, 
aside  from  the  constantly  proffered  social  glass,  a  house 
was  hardly  ever  erected,  or  a  ship  built,  without  rum 
being  furnished  to  the  neighbors  who  came  to  help  raise 
the  frame  or  lay  the  keel;  and  it  was  even  served  to 
the  men  who  worked  on  the  roads  in  country  towns.  So 
established  was  this  custom,  that  every  departure  from 
it,  in  consequence  of  an  awakened  and  reformed  public 
sentiment,  was  deemed  worthy  of  special  note  and  re 
joicing  by  the  Philanthropist,  which  urged  employers  to 
dismiss  intemperate  men  from  their  service  and  take 
only  those  whose  sobriety  could  be  relied  upon.  The 
editor  also  pointed  out  the  criminality  of  professed 
VOL.  I.— 6 


82 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON. 


.  21-23. 


1826-1828. 


Nat.  Phi 
lanthropist, 
April  25, 
1828. 


CHAP.  iv.  Christians  who  participated  in  the  liquor  traffic,  though 
he  was  hardly  prepared  at  first  to  indorse  a  suggestion 
that  total  abstinence  be  made  "  a  covenant  engagement 
by  the  churches."  Almost  every  number  recorded  the 
formation  of  some  new  temperance  society,  and  in  the 
fourth  month  of  his  editorship  Mr.  Garrison  gave,  in  a 
prospectus  of  the  third  volume,  a  resume  of  the  progress 
made  and  the  work  accomplished  since  the  establishment 
of  the  paper : 

"  Two  years  have  elapsed  since  the  Philanthropist  was  estab 
lished  for  the  purpose  of  checking  a  vice  which  had  become 
predominant  over  every  other  in  our  country  —  horrible  in  its 
nature,  alarming  in  its  extent,  and  threatening  the  stability 
of  our  best  institutions.  Prior  to  that  period,  nothing  com 
paratively  was  heard  on  the  subject  of  intemperance  —  it 
was  seldom  a  theme  for  the  essayist  —  the  newspapers  scarcely 
acknowledged  its  existence,  excepting  occasionally  in  connec 
tion  with  some  catastrophes  or  crimes  —  the  Christian  and 
patriot,  while  they  perceived  its  ravages,  formed  no  plans  for 
its  overthrow  —  and  it  did  not  occur  to  any  that  a  paper, 
devoted  mainly  to  its  suppression,  might  be  made  a  direct  and 
successful  engine  in  the  great  work  of  reform.  Private  ex 
postulation  and  individual  confession  were  indeed  sometimes 
made;  but  no  systematic  efforts  were  adopted  to  give  pre 
cision  to  the  views  or  a  bias  to  the  sentiments  of  the  people. 

"  When  this  paper  was  first  proposed,  it  met  with  a  repul 
sion  which  would  have  utterly  discouraged  a  less  zealous  and 
persevering  man  than  our  predecessor. — The  moralist  looked 
on  doubtfully — the  whole  community  esteemed  the  enterprise 
desperate.  Mountains  of  prejudice,  overtopping  the  Alps, 
were  to  be  beaten  down  to  a  level  —  strong  interests,  con 
nected  by  a  thousand  links,  severed  —  new  habits  formed  — 
every  house,  every  family,  and  almost  every  individual,  in  a 
greater  or  less  degree,  reclaimed.  Division  and  contumely 
were  busy  in  crushing  this  sublime  project  in  its  birth  — 
coldness  and  apathy  encompassed  it  on  every  side  —  but  our 
predecessor  nevertheless  went  boldly  forward  with  a  giant's 
,  strength  and  more  than  a  giant's  heart  —  conscious  of  diffi 
culties  and  perils,  though  not  disheartened  —  armed  with  the 
weapons  of  truth  —  full  of  meekness,  yet  certain  of  a  splendid 
victory  —  and  relying  on  the  promises  of  God  for  the  issue. 
By  extraordinary  efforts,  and  under  appalling  disadvantages, 


2ET.  21-23.]  EDITORIAL   EXPERIMENTS.  83 

the  first   number  was    presented  to   the  public  j    and    since    CHAP.  IV. 
that  time  it  has  gradually  expanded  in  size,  and  increased  in 
circulation,  till  doubt,  and  prejudice,  and  ridicule,  have  been 
swept  away. 

"  Nor  is  this  all.  The  change  which  has  taken  place  in 
public  sentiment  is  indeed  remarkable  —  almost  without  a 
parallel  in  the  history  of  moral  exertions  —  incorporated  as 
intemperance  ivas,  and  still  is,  into  our  very  existence  as  a 
people.  ...  A  regenerating  spirit  is  everywhere  seen ;  a 
strong  impulse  to  action  has  been  given,  which,  beginning  in 
the  breasts  of  a  few  individuals,  and  then  affecting  villages, 
and  cities,  and  finally  whole  States,  has  rolled  onward  trium 
phantly  through  the  remotest  sections  of  the  republic.  As 
union  and  example  are  the  levers  adapted  to  remove  this 
gigantic  vice,  Temperance  Societies  have  been  rapidly  multi 
plied,  many  on  the  principle  of  entire  abstinence,  and  others 
making  it  a  duty  to  abstain  from  encouraging  the  distillation 
and  consumption  of  spirituous  liquors.  Expressions  of  the 
deep  abhorrence  and  sympathy  which  are  felt  in  regard  to  the 
awful  prevalence  of  drunkenness  are  constantly  emanating 
from  legislative  bodies  down  to  various  religious  conventions, 
medical  associations,  grand  juries,  &c.,  &c. — But  nothing  has 
more  clearly  evinced  the  strength  of  this  excitement  than  the 
general  interest  taken  in  this  subject  by  the  conductors  of  the 
press.  From  Maine  to  the  Mississippi,  and  as  far  as  printing 
has  penetrated  —  even  among  the  Cherokee  Indians  —  but  one 
sentiment  seems  to  pervade  the  public  papers  —  viz.:  the  ne 
cessity  of  strenuous  exertion  for  the  suppression  of  intemper 
ance.  A  diversity  of  opinion  may  exist  as  to  the  best  mode 
of  operation,  but  all  agree  in  the  extent  and  virulence  of  the 
disease.  This  is  a  mere  synopsis  of  the  result  of  two  years' 
exertion — and  what  hopes  does  it  not  raise,  what  pledge  not 
give,  of  the  ultimate  triumph  of  good  principles  ?  " 

Notwithstanding-  this  record  of  successful  effort,  the 
paper  had  a  hard  struggle  for  existence  and  was  never 
self-supporting.  The  repeated  enlargements  and  im 
provements  were  made  in  the  hope  of  securing  a  larger 
constituency ;  the  editor  received  very  small  remunera 
tion  ;  and  to  escape  one  burdensome  expense,  correspond 
ents  were  warned  that  their  communications  would  not 
be  taken  from  the  post-office  unless  the  postage  thereon 


84 


WILLIAM  LLOYD   GAKKISON. 


CHAP.  iv.  was  prepaid.  Temperance  was  by  no  means  the  only 
1826-1828.  subject  to  which,  the  Philanthropist  gave  consideration, 
but  such  questions  as  lotteries,  imprisonment  for  debt, 
peace,  and  the  "  desecration  of  the  Sabbath"  by  the 
transportation  of  mails  and  of  passengers  on  that  day, 
were  constantly  discussed  in  its  columns.  The  last 
theme  especially  engaged  the  attention  of  the  editor, 
whose  orthodox  training  led  him  to  regard  "  Sabbath 
mails"  with  severe  reprobation.  Infidelity  also  came  in 
for  his  frequent  denunciation,  and  he  commented  approv 
ingly  on  the  communication  of  a  correspondent  who 
thought  that  "  the  surest  method  to  suppress  intemper 
ance  and  its  kindred  vices"  was  to  "  suppress  infidelity 
and  irreligion."  When  a  gathering  of  professed  Infidels 
took  place  in  New  York,  language  almost  failed  to 
express  his  amazement  and  horror : 


Nat.  Phi 
lanthropist, 
April  18, 
1828. 


"  It  is  impossible,"  he  said,  "  to  estimate  the  depravity  and 
wickedness  of  those  who,  at  the  present  day,  reject  the  gospel 
of  Jesus  Christ,  when  the  proofs  of  its  divine  origin  have  been 
accumulating  for  eighteen  centuries  till  the  mass  of  evidence 
exceeds  computation — when  its  blessed  influence  is  penetrating 
the  lands  where  thick  darkness  dwells,  conquering  the  preju 
dices,  and  customs,  and  opinions  of  the  people  —  and  when  it 
has  acquired  a  grandeur  of  aspect,  a  breadth  of  expansion,  a 
vividness  of  glory,  and  an  increase  of  moral  strength,  which 
stamps  upon  it  the  impress  of  Divinity  in  such  legible  charac 
ters  that  to  doubt  is  impiety — to  reject,  the  madness  of  folly." 


A  few  weeks  later,  however,  he  was  compelled,  in 
referring  to  the  Peace  question,  to  admit  that  a  pro 
fession  of  Christianity  did  not  make  men  perfect  or 
consistent,  and  to  lament  as  astonishing  and  unac 
countable  the  indifference  so  generally  manifested  by 
Christians  to  the  subject  of  war.  "  They  have  been 
guilty,"  he  declared,  "  of  a  neglect  which  no  discourage 
ment,  no  excuse,  no  inadequacy  can  justify."  Why  is 
ibid.,  June  it,  he  asked,  that  "by  far  the  larger  portion  of  the  pro 
fessed  followers  of  the  Lamb  have  maintained  a  careless, 
passive  neutrality?  ....  There  are,  in  fact,  few 


JET.  21-23.]  EDITORIAL   EXPEEIMENTS.  85 

reasoning  Christians ;  the  majority  of  them  are  swayed    CHAP.  iv. 
more  by  the  usages  of  the  world  than  by  any  definite    1826^1828. 
perception  of  what  constitutes  duty — so  far,  we  mean, 
as  relates  to  the  subjugation  of  vices  which  are  incor 
porated,  as  it  were,  into  the  existence  of  society ;   else 
why  is  it  that  intemperance,  and  slavery,  and  war,  have 
not  ere  this  in  a  measure  been  driven  from  our  land  ? 
Is  there  not  Christian  influence  enough  here,  if  properly 
concentrated,  to  accomplish  these  things  ?     Skepticism 
itself  cannot  be  at  a  loss  to  answer  this  question." 

It  was  of  course  important  that  the  Philanthropist,  as 
a  journal  of  temperance  and  reform,  should  keep  aloof 
from  party  politics,  and  Mr.  Garrison  endeavored  to  bear 
this  constantly  in  mind  j  but  that  it  cost  him,  with  his 
ardent  interest  in  political  questions,  some  effort  to  do  so, 
was  apparent  from  an  occasional  paragraph  or  editorial 
defending  Henry  Clay  against  attacks  made  upon  him, 
or  urging  voters  to  support  Governor  Lincoln  for  re 
election,  or  commending  the  new  "  American  System"; 
and  one  correspondent  even  took  him  to  task  for  pub 
lishing  an  extract  from  Mr.  Webster's  speech  on  internal 
improvements.  The  Philanthropist,  like  the  Free  Press, 
reported  the  State  and  Congressional  legislation,  and 
gave  a  summary  of  foreign  and  domestic  news.  For  a 
time,  also,  the  suicides,  fires,  crimes,  and  disasters  at 
tributable  to  intemperance  were  effectively  grouped  each 
week. 

In  the  fifth  month  of  his  editorship  Mr.  Garrison  pub 
lished  a  series  of  three  editorials  on  "  Female  Influence," 
in  which  he  expressed  his  surprise  that  more  effort  had 
not  been  made  to  enlist  the  active  support  and  coopera 
tion  of  women  in  promoting  the  temperance  cause.  The 
power  of  their  influence  and  example  was  pointed  out, 
the  extent  to  which  they  and  their  children  suffered  as 
the  innocent  victims  of  the  terrible  scourge  of  intemper 
ance  was  eloquently  pictured,  and  their  duty  to  do  every 
thing  in  their  power  to  banish  the  intoxicating  cup  from 
their  tables  and  homes  enforced.  Finally,  the  formation 


86  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKKISON.  [^T.  21-23. 


CHAP.  iv.    of  women's  temperance  societies  was  urged  ;   and  Mr. 

1826^1828.  Garrison,  confessing  his  ignorance  whether  any  were 
then  in  existence,  promised  to  send  the  Philanthropist 
regularly  and  gratuitously  to  each  society  of  not  less 
than  twelve  members  that  had  already  been  or  might 
thereafter  be  formed.  This  offer  developed  the  fact  that 
such  societies  already  existed  in  three  Massachusetts 
towns,  and  led  to  the  formation  of  others,  the  suggestion 
meeting  with  a  speedy  response.  The  incident  is  worth 
noting  as  showing  the  young  reformer's  early  apprecia 
tion  of  the  value  of  women's  aid  in  any  moral  enterprise, 
and  his  quick  instinct  in  enlisting  them  in  the  support  of 
whatever  cause  he  espoused. 

In  April,  1828,  he  invited  subscriptions  to  a  volume 
of  poems  by  Whittier,  which  it  was  proposed  to  publish 
at  Haverhill  in  order  to  raise  money  for  the  education  of 
the  Quaker  lad,  bat  the  project  was  subsequently  aban 
doned.  The  poet  was  now  writing  under  the  name  of 
"  Adrian/7  and  his  productions  appeared  in  the  Haverhill 
Gazette,  with  the  editor  of  which  he  boarded  while  at 
tending  the  winter  term  of  the  Academy.  Speaking  of 
his  verses  and  of  the  youth  of  the  writer,  Mr.  Garrison 
said  : 

Nat.  Phil.,  u  There  is  nothing  feeble  or  puerile,  however,  in  his  num- 
itoB1'  kers  >  ke  does  not  deal  in  ornament,  or  betray  what  Junius 
calls  the  '  melancholy  madness  of  poetry  '  ;  but  his  verse  com 
bines  purity  of  sentiment  with  finish  of  execution.  Notwith 
standing  the  numberless  difficulties  which  surround  his  path, 
the  ardor  of  his  disposition  remains  undiminished  ;  and  consid 
ering  the  slender  advantages  he  has  enjoyed,  his  case  is  indeed 
remarkable  and  full  of  interest." 

In  the  second  number  of  the  Philanthropist  edited  by 
him  Mr.  Garrison  commented  on  the  passage,  by  the 
House  of  Assembly  of  South  Carolina,  of  a  bill  to  pro 
hibit  the  instruction  of  people  of  color  in  reading  and 
writing  : 

Ibid.,  Jan.  "  There  is,"  he  declared,  "  something  unspeakably  pitiable 
and  alarming  hi  the  state  of  that  society  where  it  is  deemed 


^T.  21-23.]  EDITOKIAL   EXPEKIMENTS.  87 

necessary,  for  self-preservation,  to  seal  up  the  mind  and  debase    CHAP.  TV. 
the  intellect  of  man  to  brutal  incapacity.    We  shall  not  now     l826Ti828 
consider  the  policy  of  this  resolve,  but  it  illustrates  the  terrors  of 
slavery  in  a  manner  as  eloquent  and  affecting  as  imagination 
can  conceive.     .     .     .     Truly,  the  alternatives  of  oppression 
are  terrible.     But  this  state  of  things  cannot  always  last,  nor 
ignorance  alone  shield  us  from  destruction." 

The  awakening  interest  in  the  subject  of  slavery  here 
manifested  was  soon  to  be  strengthened  and  confirmed. 
Two  months  later  there  came  to  Boston  a  young  man,  Mar.,  1828. 
not  yet  forty,  who  had  already  devoted  thirteen  years  to 
preaching  the  gospel  of  liberty,  and  had  solemnly  dedi 
cated  his  life  to  the  cause  of  the  slave,  and  whose  great 
and  lasting  glory  it  will  be  that  he  was  the  first  American 
so  to  do.  He  was  a  Quaker,  and  his  name  was  Benja 
min  Lundy.  A  native  of  New  Jersey,  where  he  was  born 
(at  Handwich,  Sussex  County)  on  the  4th  of  January, 
1789,  he  went,  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  to  reside  in  Wheel 
ing,  Virginia,  and  there  learned  the  saddler's  trade,  serv 
ing  an  apprenticeship,  and  subsequently  working  for 
several  months  as  a  journeyman. 

Wheeling  was    then  a  great    thoroughfare    for  the 
wretches  who  were  engaged  in  transporting  slaves  from 
Virginia  to  the  Southern  markets,  and  during  his  four 
years'  residence  there  Lundy  was  a  constant  witness  of 
the  horrors  and  cruelties  of  the  traffic,  as  the  "  coffles"  of 
chained  victims  were  driven  through  the  streets.     "  My  Life  ofLun- 
heart,"  he  said,  "  was  deeply  grieved  at  the  gross  abomina-     dy' f' I5' 
tion  5  I  heard  the  wail  of  the  captive ;  I  felt  his  pang  of 
distress ;  and  the  iron  entered  my  soul." 

Afterwards  marrying  and  settling  at  St.  Clairsville, 
Ohio,  a  few  miles  west  of  Wheeling,  Lundy  prosecuted 
his  trade  with  much  success,  and  soon  accumulated  a 
snug  property.  He  organized  an  anti-slavery  associa 
tion,  called  the  "  Union  Humane  Society/'  which,  begin-  ibid.,  p.  16. 
ning  with  only  five  or  six  members,  rapidly  grew  to 
nearly  five  hundred.  He  also  wrote  an  appeal  to  the 
philanthropists  of  the  United  States,  urging  the  forma- 


88 


WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON. 


.  21-23. 


1819. 


CHAP.  iv.    tion,  wherever  possible,  of  anti-slavery  societies  with  a 

1826-1828.  uniform  title  and  constitution,  which  should  cooperate 
with  one  another  through  correspondence  and  a  gen 
eral  convention.  Gradually  the  subject  took  such  pos 
session  of  him  that  he  resolved  to  dispose  of  his  business 
and  join  Charles  Osborn,  a  Friend  who  had  established 
at  Mount  Pleasant,  in  the  same  State,  a  journal  entitled 
the  Philanthropist,  to  which  Lundy  sent  anti-slavery 
articles,  at  first  selected,  and  afterwards  written  by  him 
self.  To  consummate  this  arrangement,  he  made  two 
trips  to  St.  Louis  with  his  stock-in-trade,  and  was  com 
pelled  to  dispose  of  it  there  at  a  ruinous  sacrifice,  owing 
to  the  great  depression  in  business  throughout  the 

Autumn  of  country.  This  disturbed  him  less  than  the  plot,  then  in 
process  of  accomplishment,  to  force  Missouri  into  the 
Union  as  a  slave  State  j  and  into  the  discussion  of  that 
question^  which  was  agitating  the  whole  country,  he 
threw  himself  with  ardor,  writing  articles  on  the  evils  of 
slavery  for  the  Missouri  and  Illinois  papers.  When, 
after  an  absence  of  nearly  two  years,  and  a  pecuniary 
loss  of  thousands  of  dollars,  he  returned  home  on  foot, 
in  the  winter  season  (a  distance,  by  the  route  he  had  to 
travel,  of  seven  hundred  miles),  he  found  that  Osborn 
had  disposed  of  his  paper. 

Meanwhile  (in  1820)  a  small  octavo  monthly  newspaper 
called  the  Emancipator  had  been  established  at  Jones- 
borough,  Tennessee,  by  Elihu  Embree,  also  a  Friend,  to 
whom  must  be  accorded  the  honor  of  publishing  the  first 
periodical  in  America  of  which  the  one  avowed  object 
was  opposition  to  slavery,  When  Lundy  heard  of  it  he 
deemed  it  unnecessary  to  attempt  anything  of  the  kind 
himself  j  but,  on  his  way  home  from  St.  Louis,  news  of 
Embree's  death  reached  him,  and  he  then  resolved  to 
establish  a  new  journal  at  Mount  Pleasant,  In  July, 
1821,  the  first  number  of  the  Genius  of  Universal  Eman 
cipation  was  issued.  It  was  begun  without  a  dollar  of 

LifeofLun-  capital,  and  with  only  six  subscribers,  and  for  a  time 
Lundy  walked  a  distance  of  twenty  miles,  each  month, 


1820-21. 


dy,  p.  20. 


MT.  21-23.]  EDITOKIAL   EXPEKIMENTS.  89 

to  Steubenville,  to  get  the  paper  printed,  and  returned    CHAP.  iv. 
with  the  edition  on  his  back.  1826^1828. 

Early  in  the  following  year  the  Genius  was  removed  to  1822. 
Greenville,  Tennessee,  through  the  urgency  of  Elihu 
Embree's  friends,  and  printed  on  the  press  of  the  late 
Emancipator.  The  untiring  editor  travelled  half  of  the 
eight  hundred  miles  thither  on  foot,  his  family  following 
him  a  few  months  later.  He  remained  there  till  1824, 
learning  the  printer's  trade,  so  as  to  do  his  own  work, 
and  publishing  the  only  anti-slavery  journal  in  the 
country.1 

It  was  a  small  monthly  of  sixteen  pages,  shabbily 
printed,  but  it  was  full  of  vigor  and  earnestness,  and  it 
gradually  obtained  a  considerable  circulation.  A  trip  to 
Philadelphia  (distant  six  hundred  miles)  in  the  winter  of 
1823-4,  for  the  purpose  of  attending  the  biennial  meet 
ing  of  the  "  American  Convention  for  the  Abolition  of 
Slavery," 2  was  made  by  him  on  horseback,  and  at  his 
own  expense. 

1  He  also  published,  at  the  same  time,  a  weekly  newspaper,  the  Green 
ville  Economist  and  Statesman,  and  an  agricultural  monthly. 

2  The  first  Convention  of  the  Abolition  Societies  of  the  United  States 
was  held  in  Philadelphia,  in  January,  1794,  under  the  immediate  auspices 
of  the  "  Pennsylvania  Society  for  Promoting  the  Abolition  of  Slavery,  the 
Relief  of  Free  Negroes  unlawfully  held  in  Bondage,  and  Improving  the 
Condition  of  the   African  Race,"  and  the  New  York   "  Society  for  Pro 
moting  the  Manumission  of  Slaves,"  the  two  parent  anti-slavery  societies 
formed  in  the  United  States.     The  former,  which  was  founded  in  April, 
1775,  five  days  before  the  Lexington  and  Concord  fights,  counted  among 
its  presidents  Benjamin  Franklin  and  Dr.  Benjamin  Rush,  both  signers  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  ;  and  the  first  president  of  the  New  York 
Society  (organized  in   1785)  was  John  Jay,  subsequently  Chief-Justice  of 
the  United  States  Supreme  Court.     Other  State  societies  were  formed  in 
Delaware  (1788),  Maryland  (1789),  Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut  (1790), 
Virginia  (1791),  New  Jersey  (1792),  all  of  which,  with  some  local  societies  in 
Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and  Delaware,  were  represented  in  the  Conven 
tion  of  1794.     Annual  sessions  of  the  "American  Convention"  were  held, 
with  more  or  less  regularity,  for  several  years  ;  afterwards  it  met  bienni 
ally  till  1825,  then  annually  till  1829,  when  it  suspended  operations  for 
nine  years,  holding  its  final  meeting  in  1838.     The  State  societies  devoted 
their  efforts  to  gradual  emancipation  in  their  own  States,  the  education 
and  moral  improvement  of  the  free  people  of  color,  and  their  protection 
and  rescue  from  kidnapping  and  reenslavement.    The  Pennsylvania  Society 
was  especially  active  and  vigilant  in  this  last  work,  but  early  in  the  present 


90  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARBISON.  [^T.  21-23. 


CHAP.  iv.  It  led  to  his  deciding  to  remove  the  Genius  to  the  At- 
1826^1828.  lantic  seaboard,  and  this  was  done  in  October,  1824,  when 
he  established  himself  at  Baltimore,  after  making  the 
journey  from  Tennessee  on  foot,  with  knapsack  on  back. 
His  course  took  him  through  southwestern  Virginia  into 
North  Carolina  ;  and  at  Deep  Creek,  in  the  latter  State, 
he  delivered  his  first  public  address  on  the  subject  of 
slavery,  in  a  grove  near  the  Friends'  Meeting  House, 
and  inspired  the  formation  of  an  anti-slavery  society. 
Before  he  left  the  State  he  had  addressed  fifteen  or 
twenty  meetings  at  different  places,  and  formed  a  dozen 
or  more  societies,  one  of  them  at  Raleigh,  the  capital. 
These  were  chiefly  among  the  Friends,  but  one  embraced 
some  of  the  members  of  a  militia  company  who  had 
assembled  for  a  muster,  &nd  its  captain  became  the 
president  of  the  society,  while  a  Friend  was  chosen 
secretary.  Entering  Virginia,  and  traversing  the  middle 
section  of  the  State,  Lundy  continued  the  good  work 
without  molestation,  his  Quaker  brethren  giving  him 
their  ready  sympathy,  while  the  community  at  large 
took  no  alarm. 

Nor  did  the  establishment  of  the  Genius  at  Baltimore 
cause  any  excitement,  for,  in  his  initial  article,  the  editor 
declared  "  the  end  and  aim  "  of  the  paper  to  be  "  the 
gradual,  though  total,  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  United 
States,"  and  he  devoted  the  larger  portion  of  several 
numbers  to  the  advocacy  and  furtherance  of  a  scheme  for 
colonizing  the  emancipated  slaves  in  Hayti,  using  some 
of  the  very  arguments  employed  by  the  American  Colo 
nization  Society,  which  stood  in  high  favor  throughout 


century,  and  especially  after  the  Missouri  Compromise  of  1820,  a  paralysis 
fell  on  the  anti-slavery  sentiment  of  the  country,  and  the  societies  gradu 
ally  dwindled  until  most  of  them  disappeared ;  the  new  societies  formed 
during  the  decade  from  1830  to  1840,  on  the  basis  of  immediate  and  uncon 
ditional  emancipation,  absorbing  the  ablest  and  most  energetic  surviving 
members  of  the  old  organizations.  See  'An  Historical  Memoir  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Society  for  Promoting  the  Abolition  of  Slavery/  etc.,  by 
Edward  Needles  (Philadelphia,  1848),  and  '  Anti-Slavery  Opinions  before  the 
year  1800,'  by  William  F.  Poole  (Cincinnati,  1873). 


^T.  21-23.]  EDITOKIAL   EXPEKIMENTS.  91 

the  South.1     In  the  interests  of  this  scheme  he  visited    CHAP.  iv. 
Hayti  in  1825,  and  returned  after  several  months  to  find    1826^828. 
his  beloved  wife  dead,  after  giving  birth  to  twins,  his 
home   desolate,   and   his   surviving  children   scattered. 
These  he  collected  and  placed  in  the  care  of  friends,  and 
then  renewed  his  vow  to  devote  his  energies  to  the  cause 
of  the  slaves  until  the  nation  was  aroused  in  their  behalf. 
Resuming  his   task,  he  enlarged  the   Genius,  and  con 
verted  it  into  a  weekly  paper.     William  Swain,  "  a  very 
capable,  intelligent,  and  philanthropic  young  man/7  one  LifeofLun- 
of  his  North  Carolina  converts,  became  his  assistant,  and 
to  him  Lundy  could  intrust  the  paper  while  he  made 
occasional  journeys  to  hold  meetings,  obtain  subscribers, 
and  stimulate  the  formation  of  anti-slavery  societies.     It 
was  not  until  1828,  however  (a  year  after  he  had  been 
brutally  assaulted  and  almost  killed  in  the   streets  of     ibid.,  pp. 
Baltimore  by  Austin  Woolfolk,  a  notorious  slave-trader), 
that  he  made  his  way  northward  on  one  of  these  missions, 
beginning  at  Philadelphia,  and  holding  there  the  first 
meeting  ever  held  in  this  country  for  encouraging  the 
use  of  free-labor  products.     In  New  York  he  became 
slightly  acquainted  with   Arthur   Tappan,  a  merchant    ibid.,  p.  25. 
already  distinguished  for  his   munificent  philanthropy, 
and  in  Providence  he  met  William  Goodell,  who  was  then   ibid.,  p.  25. 
publishing  a  paper  called  the  Investigator.    "  I  endeavored   ibid.,  p.  25. 
to  arouse  him,"  records  Lundy,  "  but  he  was  at  that  time 
slow  of  speech  on  my  subject" — a  slowness  for  which  he 
afterwards  amply  atoned.2 

1  And  yet,   only  a  few  months  previous,   Lundy  had  expressed  some 
distrust  of  the  Colonization  Society  because  Clay,  Randolph,  and  other 
prominent  slaveholders  were  active  in  its  councils. 

2  William  Goodell  (born  in  Coventry,  N.  Y.,  Oct.  25,  1792,  died  in  Janes- 
ville,  Wisconsin,  Feb.  14,  1878)  was  a  lineal  descendant  of  Robert  Goodell, 
one  of  the  earliest  settlers   of  Danvers,   Massachusetts   (1634).      Disap 
pointed  in  his  hope  of  a  collegiate  education,  he  early  entered  business  life 
at  Providence,  R.  I.,  and  subsequently,  at  the  age  of  24,  made  a  long 
voyage  to  the  East  Indies,  China,  and  Europe,  as  supercargo.     After  his 
return  he  was  merchant  and    book-keeper   successively  at  Providence, 
Alexandria,  Va.,  and  New  York,  until,  in  1827,  he  established  the  Inves 
tigator  at  Providence,   "  devoted  to  moral   and  political  discussion,  and 
reformation  in  general,  including  temperance  and  anti-slavery."    He  had 


92  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON.  [^T.  21-23. 

CHAP.  iv.  Arrived  in  Boston,  Lundy  went  to  Mr.  Collier's 
1826^1828.  boarding-house,  where  he  became  acquainted  with  Mr. 
LtfeofLun-  Garrison,  and  found  in  him  a  ready  and  enthusiastic 
convert,  who  was  willing  to  give  not  merely  words  of 
sympathy  and  approval,  but  energetic  and  active  sup 
port.  Garrison  had  seen  the  Genius,  and  so  known  of 
Lundy,  whom  he  had  imagined  "  a  Hercules  in  shape 
and  size7';  and  his  disappointment  was  great,  at  first, 
when  he  beheld  a  diminutive  and  slender  person, — the 
last  man,  by  his  appearance,  that  he  would  have  selected 
as  a  reformer.1 

Journal  of  "Instead  of  being  able  to  withstand  the  tide  of  public 
^Dec*™5'  opinion,"  he  wrote,  a  few  months  later,  in  describing  Lundy, 
1828.  "it  would  at  first  seem  doubtful  whether  he  could  sustain  a 
temporary  conflict  with  the  winds  of  heaven.  And  yet  he  has 
explored  nineteen  of  the  twenty-four  States  —  from  the  Green 
Mountains  of  Vermont  to  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  —  multi 
plied  anti-slavery  societies  in  every  quarter,  put  every  petition 
in  motion  relative  to  the  extinction  of  slavery  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  everywhere  awakened  the  slumbering  sympathies  of 
the  people,  and  begun  a  work,  the  completion  of  which  will  be 
the  salvation  of  his  country.  His  heart  is  of  a  gigantic  size. 
Every  inch  of  him  is  alive  with  power.  He  combines  the 
meekness  of  Howard  with  the  boldness  of  Luther.  No  re 
former  was  ever  more  devoted,  zealous,  persevering,  or  san 
guine.  He  has  fought  single-handed  against  a  host,  without 
missing  a  blow,  or  faltering  a  moment  j  but  his  forces  are 
rapidly  gathering,  and  he  will  yet  free  our  land. 

"  It  should  be  mentioned,  too,  that  he  has  sacrificed  several 
thousand  dollars  in  this  holy  cause,  accumulated  by  unceasing 

denounced  the  Missouri  Compromise  at  the  time  of  its  adoption,  and  was 
earnestly  opposed  to  slavery,  but  at  the  period  of  Lundy's  visit  the  tem 
perance  question  was  the  more  absorbing  one  with  him.  His  subsequent 
labors  in  the  anti-slavery  cause  will  be  frequently  alluded  to  in  these  pages. 
He  was  the  author  of  several  works,  the  most  important  of  which  were 
'Views  of  American  Constitutional  Law'  (1844),  'The  Democracy  of 
Christianity '  (1851),  '  Slavery  and  Anti-Slavery '  (1852),  and  '  The  Amer 
ican  Slave  Code  '  (1853).  He  was  an  able  writer  and  close  reasoner,  though 
diffuse  in  style.  In  his  religious  views  he  was  rigidly  Calvinistic.  (See 
'Memorial  of  William  Goodell,'  Chicago,  1879.) 

1  Clarkson,  when  asked,  in  his  old  age,  if  Wilberforce  was  not  diminutive 
in  person,  replied,  with  kindling  eye,  "Yes,  but  think  of  the  magnitude  of 
his  theme !  the  majesty  of  his  cause ! "  (Lib. ,  10 : 193. ) 


JET.  21-23.]  EDITORIAL   EXPEEIMENTS.  93 

industry.   Yet  he  makes  no  public  appeals,  but  goes  forward  in    CHAP.  iv. 
the  quietude  and  resoluteness  of  his  spirit,  husbanding  his     z  825^328 
little  resources  from  town  to  town,  and  from  State  to  State. 
*  I  would  not,'  he  said  to  us  some  months  since,  '  I  would  not 
exchange  circumstances  with  any  person  on  earth,  if  I  must 
thereby  relinquish  the  cause  in  which  I  am  enlisted.' 
Within  a  few  months  he  has  travelled  about  twenty-four  hun 
dred  miles,  of  which  upwards  of  sixteen  hundred  were  per 
formed  on  foot!  —  during  which  time  he  has  held  nearly  fifty 
public  meetings.1     Rivers  and  mountains  vanish  in  his  path ; 
midnight  finds  him  wending  his  solitary  way  over  an  unfre 
quented  road  ;  the  sun  is  anticipated  in  his  rising.     Never  was 
moral  sublimity  of  character  better  illustrated." 

Lundy  lost  no  time,  after  his  arrival  in  Boston,  in  con 
vening  as  many  clergymen  of  different  sects  as  he  could 
persuade  to  come  and  listen  to  him  at  Mr.  Collier's  house, 
but  the  names  of  the  eight  who  are  said  to  have  attended  Life  ofLun- 
the  meeting  (March   17,  1828),  and  given  their  cordial    ^J.'pll 
approval,  in  writing,  of  his  plans  and  paper,  are  not    ^MarSK\ 
recorded.     "  William  L.  Garrison,  who  sat  in  the  room,        1828. 
also  expressed  his  approbation  of  my  doctrines,"  wrote 
Lundy.     The  clerical  gentlemen,  however,  were  unwilling 
to  initiate  any  active  movement,  or  to  take  part  in  the 
formation  of  an  anti-slavery  committee  or  society  such 
as  Lundy  urged  them  to  organize  j  and  all  that  he  could 
obtain  from  them  was  their  signatures  to  a  paper  recom 
mending  the  Genius  to  the  patronage  of  the  public.    In  his 
obituary  tribute  to  Lundy,  eleven  years  later,  Mr.  Garrison 
gave  his  recollections  of  this  meeting,  and  of  the  failure 
of  Lundy's  arguments  and  appeals  to  move  his  hearers : 

"He  might  as  well  have  urged  the  stones  in  the  streets  to    £#.9:151. 
cry  out  in  behalf  of  the  perishing  captives.     0  the  moral  cow- 

1  "He  was  not  a  good  public  speaker.  His  voice  was  too  feeble,  his 
utterance  too  rapid,  to  interest  or  inform  an  audience ;  yet  he  never  spoke 
wholly  in  vain.  In  private  life,  his  habits  were  social  and  communicative, 
but  his  infirmity  of  deafness  rendered  it  difficult  to  engage  with  him  in 
protracted  conversation.  How,  with  that  infirmity  upon  him,  he  could 
think  of  travelling  all  over  the  country,  exploring  Canada  and  Texas,  and 
making  voyages  to  Hayti,  in  the  prosecution  of  his  godlike  work,  is  indeed 
matter  of  astonishment.  But  it  shows,  in  bold  relief,  what  the  spirit  of 
philanthropy  can  dare  and  conquer"  (W.  L.  G.  in  Lib.,  Sept.  20,  1839). 


94  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON.  [^T.  21-23. 

CHAP.  IV.  ardice,  the  chilling  apathy,  the  criminal  unbelief,  the  cruel 
1826^1828  skepticism,  that  were  revealed  on  that  memorable  occasion ! 
My  soul  was  on  fire  then,  as  it  is  now,  in  view  of  such  a  devel 
opment.  Every  soul  in  the  room  was  heartily  opposed  to 
slavery,  but — it  would  terribly  alarm  and  enrage  the  South  to 
know  that  an  anti- slavery  society  existed  in  Boston !  But  —  it 
would  do  harm  rather  than  good,  openly  to  agitate  the  subject! 
But — we  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  question,  and  the  less  we 
meddled  with  it,  the  better  !  But — perhaps  a  select  committee 
might  be  formed,  to  be  called  by  some  name  that  would  neither 
give  offense,  nor  excite  suspicion  as  to  its  real  design  !  One  or 
two  only  were  for  bold  and  decisive  action ;  but,  as  they  had 
neither  station  nor  influence,  and  did  not  rank  among  the  wise 
and  prudent,  their  opinions  did  not  weigh  very  heavily,  and  the 
project  was  abandoned.  Poor  Lundy!  that  meeting  was  a 
damper  to  his  feelings  j  but  he  was  not  a  man  to  be  utterly  cast 
down,  come  what  might.  No  one,  at  the  outset,  had  bid  him 
'  God-speed '  in  his  merciful  endeavors  to  deliver  his  enslaved 
countrymen  ;  and  he  was  inflexible  to  persevere  even  unto  the 
end,  though  unassisted  by  any  of  those  whose  countenance  he 
had  a  right  to  expect." 

Mar.  21,  The  Philanthropist  of  that  week  bore  ample  evidence 
of  the  quickening  influence  of  Lundy's  visit  upon  its 
editor,  who  heartily  commended  the  Genius  of  Universal 
Emancipation  and  its  conductor  to  the  citizens  of  Boston, 
and  paid  a  warm  tribute  to  Lundy  and  to  the  work  which 
he  had  already  accomplished.  A  long  editorial  in  the  same 
number,  on  the  "Progress  of  Public  Opinion  against 
Intemperance,  Slavery  and  War,"  was  clearly  due  to  the 
inspiration  of  Lundy's  visit  (so  far,  at  least,  as  the 
portion  relating  to  slavery  was  concerned) ;  and  as  it 
contains  the  first  indication  of  Mr.  Garrison's  growing 
purpose  to  devote  his  life  to  philanthropy  and  reform,  it 
possesses  an  especial  interest,  and  may  be  said  to  mark 
the  turning-point  in  his  career.  Add  to  this  that  he  was 
then  but  twenty-two  years  of  age,  and  that  he  wrote  after 
the  disheartening  meeting  at  Mr.  Collier's,  and  one  can 
not  but  be  struck  by  the  vigor,  courage,  and  prophetic 
confidence  of  the  writer.  In  this  article  the  number  of 
"anti-intemperance  societies"  then  existing  was  estimated 


JET.  21-23.]  EDITOKIAL   EXPEKIMENTS.  95 

as  rather  less  than  one  hundred,  and  of  anti-slavery  CHAP.  iv. 
societies  as  upwards  of  one  hundred  and  thirty, — most 
of  them  in  slave  States  and  of  Lundy's  formation,  among 
the  Quakers.  Allusion  was  made  to  the  colonization  of 
one  thousand  colored  people  in  Liberia,  and  the  emigra 
tion  of  seven  or  eight  thousand  more  to  Hayti  within 
four  years,  and  to  the  fact  that  influential  citizens  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,  and  in  many  other  places,  were  then 
signing  petitions  to  Congress  for  the  abolition  of  slavery 
in  the  District.  "  If  this  important  principle  be  recog 
nized  by  that  body,"  said  the  editor,  "  it  will  be  a  bright 
omen  of  the  future  emancipation  of  the  whole  country." 
The  formation  of  peace  societies  was  also  noted  with 
satisfaction  by  him. 

"  The  brightest  traits  in  the  American  character,"  he  declared, 
"  will  derive  their  lustre,  not  from  the  laurels  picked  from  the 
field  of  blood,  not  from  the  magnitude  of  our  navy  and  the  suc 
cess  of  our  arms,  but  from  our  exertions  to  banish  war  from  the 
earth,  to  stay  the  ravages  of  intemperance  among  all  that  is 
beautiful  and  fair,  to  unfetter  those  who  have  been  enthralled 
by  chains  which  we  have  forged,  and  to  spread  the  light  of 
knowledge  and  religious  liberty  wherever  darkness  and  super 
stition  reign.  Upon  this  foundation  we  may  build  a  temple 
which  time  cannot  crumble,  and  whose  fame  shall  fill  the  earth. 
Obstacles  may  rise  up  in  our  path  like  mountains,  but  they  will 
disappear  before  the  unconquerable  spirit  of  reform  like  the 
shadows  of  night  in  the  morning  blaze.  .  .  .  We  ought  to 
exult  that  the  '  signs  of  the  times '  are  so  auspicious.  Let  the 
desponding  take  courage — the  fainting  gather  strength  —  the 
listless  be  inspirited ;  for  though  the  victory  be  not  won,  we 
shall  not  lose  it  if  we  persevere.  The  struggle  is  full  of  sub 
limity  —  the  conquest  embraces  the  world." 

Lundy  was  sufficiently  encouraged  by  this  visit  to  the 
North  to  undertake  another  pilgrimage  thither  soon 
after  his  return  to  Baltimore,  and,  beginning  on  the 
first  of  May,  1828,  he  devoted  six  months  to  visiting  New 
England  and  New  York  State.  He  met  with  varying 
success,  and  that  his  patience  was  sorely  tested  at  times 
is  evident  from  the  declaration  in  his  journal  (on  reach- 


96  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON.  [^T.  21-23. 


LifeofLun-  ing  Albany),  that  "philanthropists  are  the  slowest  crea- 
y,  p.  28.  j-ures  Breathing.  They  think  forty  times  before  they 
act."  It  was  not  until  the  end  of  July  that  he  again 
reached  ^Boston,  after  holding  meetings  in  Newburyport, 
Andover,  Salem,  and  Lynn.  Meanwhile  Mr.  Garrison 
had  resigned  the  editorship  of  the  Philanthropist,  and 
the  number  for  July  4  contained  his  brief  valedictory. 
The  same  day  found  him  in  Newburyport  once  more, 
where  he  read  the  Declaration  of  Independence  at  a 
celebration  of  the  national  anniversary,  held  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Artillery  Company,  and  also  contributed 
a  spirited  ode  for  the  occasion  : 

Nat.  Phi-  Ode  for  the  Celebration  of  the  Fourth  of  July,  at 

Newburyport,  Mass.,  1828. 

Once  more,  in  the  face  of  the  wondering  world, 
We  come  to  re-echo  our  proud  declaration, 
That  the  standard  of  freedom  our  fathers  unfurled 
Shall  ever  in  triumph  wave  over  our  nation  ; 
That  tyranny's  chain 
Ne'er  shall  bind  us  again, 

But  our  rights  we'll  assert,  and  as  boldly  maintain  : 
'Twere  as  easy  to  quench  the  full  blaze  of  the  sun 
As  shackle  a  people  whose  hearts  are  but  one  ! 

Though  the  heat  of  collision  may  sometimes  inflame, 
And  a  threat  of  disunion  be  held  in  terrorem; 
Though  the  South  may  revile,  and  the  East  loud  declaim, 
The  North  and  the  West  talk  of  conflicts  before  'em  ; 

Yet  the  FOURTH  OF  JULY 

Will  forever  supply 

A  seven-fold  cord  to  our  national  tie  :  — 
The  plots  of  division,  though  artfully  done, 
Will  fail  on  a  people  ichose  hearts  are  but  one! 

Our  march  must  keep  pace  with  the  march  of  the  mind, 
Progressing  in  grandeur  for  ever  and  ever; 
Our  deeds  and  example  are  laws  to  mankind, 
And  Onward  to  Glory  !  1  shall  be  our  endeavor  : 

i  The  motto  of  the  Artillery  Company. 


,ET.  21-23.J  EDITORIAL   EXPERIMENTS.  97 

A  voice  shall  go  forth  CHAP.  IV. 

O'er  the  empires  of  earth,  1826^1828 

Like  a  trumpet,  redeeming  the  world  at  a  birth! 
For  the  reign  of  free  thoughts  and  free  acts  has  begun, 
And  joy  to  that  people  ivhose  hearts  are  but  one! 

A  prayer  and  a  tear  for  the  suffering  brave, — 
For  Greece  in  this  day  of  her  terrible  anguish! 
May  the  Turkish  oppressor  be  hurled  in  the  grave, 
And  Freedom  for  aid  cease  in  sorrow  to  languish! 

May  the  arm  of  our  God 

Interpose  with  its  rod, 

And  punish  the  shedders  of  innocent  blood; 
Then  peace,  hope,  and  love,  like  a  river  shall  run, 
And  dwell  with  a  people  whose  hearts  are  but  one! 

And  now,  while  our  cannon  ring  out  to  the  skies 
Their  eloquent  peals  in  the  accents  of  thunder, 
In  clouds  let  the  incense  of  gratitude  rise 
To  Him  who  alone  burst  our  shackles  asunder  j 

Let  our  loftiest  lays 

Be  filled  with  his  praise, — 
The  fire  of  devotion  burst  forth  in  a  blaze: 
For  oh !   it  becomes,  when  our  trials  are  done, 
A  people  ivhose  hands,  hearts,  and  feelings  are  one  ! 

Lundy  held  his  first  public  meeting  in  Boston  on  the 
evening  of  August  7,  1828,  in  the  vestry  of  the  Federal- 
Street  Baptist  Church,  and  a  report  of  the  meeting,  with 
a  synopsis  of  his  address,  was  given  by  Mr.  Garrison 
in  a  letter  to  the  Courier,  under  the  familiar  initials  Aug.  n; 
"A.  O.  B."  From  this  we  learn  that  Lundy  described  Lnthropist, 
to  his  hearers  the  work  already  accomplished  in  the 
formation  of  anti-slavery  societies,  and  pointed  out  the 
impossibility  of  ever  abolishing  slavery  through  the 
agency  of  the  Colonization  Society,  since  the  increase  of 
the  slave  population  in  a  single  year  was  greater  than 
the  diminution  which  that  society  could  effect  in  half  a 
century.  While  the  Society  was  warmly  commended, 
emphasis  was  laid  on  the  fact  that  the  anti-slavery 
societies  did  not  propose  to  buy  slaves  for  the  sake  of 
VOL.  L— 7 


98 


WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAKKISON. 


.  21-23. 


CHAP.  IV. 

1826-1828. 


A.  O.  B.  in 

Boston 

Courier, 

Aug.  12, 

1828; 
Lib.  4 : 43. 


Jour,  of  the 

Times,  Oct. 

10,  1828. 


emancipating  and  transporting  them  to  other  countries, 
and  so  to  open  a  new  market  to  slave-dealers,  but  to 
generate  a  moral  agitation  which  should  never  rest  until 
the  shackles  of  the  oppressed  were  broken  "  by  the  will, 
not  by  the  wealth,  of  the  people."  Finally,  the  speaker 
urged  the  circulation  of  petitions  to  Congress  for  the 
abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 

The  meeting  was  brought  to  an  abrupt  and  unex 
pected  termination  by  the  pastor  of  the  church  (Rev. 
Howard  Malcolm),  who  arose  at  the  conclusion  of 
Lundy's  remarks  and  passionately  denounced  the  agita 
tion  of  the  question  of  slavery  in  New  England,  de 
claring  that  it  was  too  delicate  to  be  meddled  with  by 
the  people  of  the  Northern  States ;  that  they  had  noth 
ing  whatever  to  do  with  it  5  that  slavery  was  coming  to 
an  end,  perhaps  quite  as  fast  as  was  desirable, — namely, 
by  one  slave  State  selling  its  slaves  to  another  further 
South,  and  thus  gradually  relieving  itself ;  and  after 
discoursing  in  this  vein,  he  summarily  dismissed  the 
meeting  without  affording  any  opportunity  for  reply. 
His  conduct  excited  much  indignation,  and  it  was  only 
by  holding  a  subsequent  meeting  that  an  anti-slavery 
committee  was  formed,  consisting  of  twenty  members,  of 
whom  Mr.  Garrison  was  one.  With  characteristic  ardor 
he  at  once  proposed  to  circulate  petitions  for  the  aboli 
tion  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  in  every  town 
in  the  Commonwealth,  but  before  he  could  personally  set 
them  in  motion,  he  was  called  to  another  field  of  action ; 
and  although  his  fellow-members  of  the  committee  were 
"  high-minded,  spirited  and  philanthropic  men,"  they  do 
not  seem  to  have  pushed  the  matter  with  much  vigor 
after  the  stimulus  of  his  personal  presence  and  effort 
was  withdrawn.  A  single  petition  from  Boston,  cau 
tiously  and  almost  apologetically  worded,  appears  to 
have  been  the  sole  result  of  their  labors.  Garrison 
communicated  the  progress  made  before  he  left  Boston 
to  Lundy,  who  wrote  in  reply  : 


MT.  21-23.]  EDITOKIAL   EXPEKIMENTS.  99 

"  I  am  now  strengthened  in  the  hope,  that  I  shall  not  only  jour,  of  the 
find  a  valuable  coadjutor  in  the  person  of  my  friend  Garrison,  T^es^f' 
but  that  the  '  ice  is  broken '  in  the  hitherto  frozen  —  no,  no,  not 
frozen  —  COOL  regions  of  the  North.  (Ask  pardon  for  the, 
metaphor  —  but,  really,  you  have  all  been  '  cool,'  on  the  subject 
of  slavery,  too  long.)  I  should  have  been  pleased  to  learn  that 
you  had  fairly  and  formally  organized  a  society  j  but  you  have 
the  substance,  and  I  heartily  rejoice.  Your  '  committee '  will 
form  a  nucleus,  around  which  the  elements  of  a  society  will 
congregate  j  and  in  process  of  time  you  will,  if  you  remain 
active —  MARK  THAT —  imperceptibly,  as  it  were,  fall  into  as 
regular  a  plan  of  organization  as  can  be  desired.  When  you 
have  the  substance,  it  is  useless  to  contend  for,  or  even  too 
earnestly  desire,  the  shadow.  But,  I  repeat  —  for  it  is  im 
portant  that  it  be  indelibly  impressed  on  the  memory  —  that 
everything  depends  on  activity  and  steady  perseverance.  And 
you  will  also  find,  that  the  burthen  will  mostly  fall  on  the 
shoulders  of  a  few.  A  few  will  have  the  labor  to  perform,  and 
the  honor  to  share.  .  .  . 

"  I  hope  you  will  persevere  in  your  work,  steadily,  but  not 
make  too  large  calculations  on  what  may  be  accomplished  in  a 
particularly  stated  time.  You  have  now  girded  on  a  holy  war 
fare.  Lay  not  down  your  weapons  until  honorable  terms  are 
obtained.  The  God  of  hosts  is  on  your  side.  Steadiness  and  faith 
fulness  will,  most  assuredly,  overcome  every  obstacle." 

During  the  month  of  August,  1828,  Mr.  Garrison  had 
had  a  controversy  with  John  Neal  of  Portland,  then 
editing  a  newspaper  called  the  Yankee,  in  that  city.  He 
had  frequently,  in  the  Philanthropist,  ridiculed  NeaFs 
egotistical  and  bombastic  style  of  writing,  and  an  asser 
tion  of  NeaFs  that  his  retirement  from  that  journal 
was  compulsory,  because  of  his  attacks  on  himself, 
aroused  all  the  hot  blood  in  the  young  man's  veins,  and 
caused  him  to  send  a  wrathful  epistle  of  denial,  which 
was  printed  in  the  Yankee.  After  refuting  the  assertion,  August  13, 
he  demanded  a  retraction, — "  that  the  public  mind  may 
be  disabused  of  the  untruth,  that  I  was  ejected  from 
office.  It  is  important  to  me  that  this  correction  be  made. 
My  reputation,  trifling  as  it  is,  is  worth  something ;  if  I 


100  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAEKISON.  [^T.  21-23. 


CHAP.  iv.    lose  it,  I  lose  the  means  whereby  I  obtain   my  daily 

1826^828.    bread." 

Nat.  Phi-        The  proprietor  of  the  Philanthropist  promptly  corrob- 

latAug°.^  ^orated  his  statement  that  his  retirement  from  it  was 
1828.  wholly  voluntary,  and  expressed  surprise  that  he  should 
have  deemed  "  the  unfounded  and  dastardly  charge  " 
worth  noticing,  when  made  by  such  a  man  as  Neal.  The 
latter's  comments  on  his  letter,  however,  so  exasperated 
Mr.  Garrison  that  he  wrote  a  second,  of  which  this  is  the 
concluding  paragraph  : 

Portland         "  You  declare  that  you  never  heard  of  my  name  before  — 

Au^sfzo     ^at  we  are  entire  strangers  to  each  other.     But  you  knew,  it 

1828  ;        appears,  my  age  and  origin  long  ago.  (  Vide  the  Yankee  of  Feby. 

Wandering    ^  an(^  March  12.)     I  have  only  to  repeat  without  vanity,  what 

Recollections  I  declared  publicly  to  another  opponent  —  a  political  one  — 

Ufep  401  •    (and  I  think  he  will  never  forget  me,)  that,  if  my  life  be  spared, 

cf.  ante,      my  name  shall  one  day  be  known  so  extensively  as  to  render 

private  enquiry  unnecessary  ;    and  known,  too,  in  a  praise 

worthy  manner.     I  speak  in  the  spirit  of  prophecy,  not  of  vain 

glory,  —  with  a  strong  pulse,  a  flashing  eye,  and  a  glow  of  the 

heart.     The  task  may  ~be  yours  to  write  my  biography." 


CHAPTER  V. 

BENNINGTON  AND  THE  JOURNAL  OF  THE  TIMES. 

1828-29. 


1828-29. 


THE  exciting  Presidential  campaign  of  1828  had  CHAP.  v. 
already  begun,  when  Mr.  Garrison  received  an  in 
vitation  from  a  committee  of  prominent  citizens  of  Ben- 
nington,  Vermont,  who  visited  Boston  for  the  purpose 
of  seeing  him,  to  edit  a  paper  which  they  proposed  to 
establish  in  that  town  in  advocacy  of  the  reelection  of 
John  Quincy  Adams  over  Andrew  Jackson  ;  the  Gazette, 
the  existing  local  paper,  having  practically  gone  over  to 
the  Jackson  party.  As  Vermont  was  strongly  for  Adams, 
and  as  Bennington,  though  in  an  extreme  corner  of  the 
State,  was  politically  a  very  important  town,  the  need 
of  an  Administration  paper  there  was  felt  to  be  impera 
tive.  Mr.  Garrison,  while  no  very  warm  admirer  of  Mr. 
Adams  personally,  had  ^still  a  well-founded  dread  of  the 
election  of  Jackson  and  its  consequent  effect  upon  Ame 
rican  politics,  and  he  readily  consented  to  a  six  months' 
engagement  on  condition  that  he  should  have  the  liberty 
of  advocating  in  the  columns  of  the  paper  not  only 
the  reelection  of  Adams,  but  Anti-Slavery,  Temperance, 
Peacevand  Moral  Reform  as  well.  a  It  was  a  very  singu 
lar  kind  of  political  paper,"  he  said,  u  but  they  gave  me 
carte  blanche,  and  I  agreed  to  undertake  the  enterprise." 
Arrangements  were  made  with  Mr.  Henry  S.  Hull,  an 
acquaintance  of  his,  to  print  it,  and  on  Friday,  the  3d  of 
October,  1828,  the  first  number  of  the  Journal  of  the 
Times  was  issued,  a  well-printed  sheet  of  four  pages,  with 


Proceedings 

Am.  A.  S. 

Soc'y,  Third 

Decade,  p. 

121. 


101 


102  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON.  [^T.  23-24. 


CHAP.  v.  six  columns  to  the  page.1  The  editor  recurred  to  his 
1828-29.  favorite  quotation  from  Cicero  ;  and  "  Reason  shall  pre 
vail  with  us  more  than  Popular  Opinion  "  was  placed  as 
the  permanent  motto  of  the  paper,  below  the  heading. 
The  contents  were  attractively  arranged,  the  first  page 
being  devoted  to  selections  under  the  general  heads 
"  Moral,"  "  Education,"  "  Temperance,"  "  Slavery/7  "  Po 
litical,"  etc.  Foreign  and  domestic  news  occupied  the 
second  page  ;  editorials,  communications,  and  a  general 
summary  of  news  the  third,  and  poetry,  miscellany,  and 
advertisements  the  fourth.  Contrary  to  the  usual  habit 
of  giving  editorials  larger  type  and  better  display  than 
other  matter,  Mr.  Garrison  set  his  articles  in  smaller  type 
than  the  average,  and  still  found  himself  cramped  for 
space.  His  first  bow  to  the  Vermont  public  was  made 
in  the  following  Salutatory,  in  which  the  prime  motive  for 
establishing  the  paper  seems  to  have  been  the  last  in  the 
editor's  thoughts. 

TO   THE   PUBLIC. 

Oct  ^e  t^S  ^^  Present  the  first  number  of  the  Journal  of 
3,  1828.  the  Times,  for  public  approval  and  patronage.  It  is  proper, 
therefore,  at  the  commencement  of  our  enterprise,  that  we 
should  explain  the  motives  by  which  we  are  actuated,  the 
objects  which  we  shall  pursue,  and  the  principles  upon  which 
we  base  our  faith. 

This  shall  be  done  briefly  —  for  one  article  in  our  creed  is, 
that  practice  is  better  than  profession,  and  the  fulfilment  of 
a  promise  worth  more  than  the  contract  itself;  —  hence  we  have 
issued  no  prospectus,  nor  solicited  a  single  subscription,  nor 
made  any  provision  for  an  extensive  support.  Our  paper  shall 
be  sustained  by  its  merits,  or  it  shall  perish,  even  though  the 
sympathy  of  friendship  should  open  its  coffers  for  our  relief  ; 
and  therefore  we  choose,  in  looking  to  the  people  of  this  county 
for  encouragement,  to  place  this  sheet  in  their  hands  before  we 
ask  them  to  subscribe.  Our  terms  and  our  pretensions  are  be 
fore  them. 

1  The  printed  page  measured  13x18^  inches,  and  the  subscription  price 
was  two  dollars  a  year. 


^T.  23-24.]  BENNINGTON.  103 

In  the  first  place,  the  Journal  shall  be  INDEPENDENT,  in  the  CHAP.  V. 
broadest  and  stoutest  signification  of  the  term ;  it  shall  be  tram- 
melled  by  no  interest,  biassed  by  no  sect,  awed  by  no  power. 
Of  all  diminutive  objects  that  creep  on  the  face  of  the  earth, 
that  bask  in  God's  sunshine,  or  inhale  the  rich  atmosphere  of 
life  —of  all  despicable  and  degraded  beings,  a  time-serving, 
shuffling,  truckling  editor  has  no  parallel;  and  he  who  has 
not  courage  enough  to  hunt  down  popular  vices,  to  combat 
popular  prejudices,  to  encounter  the  madness  of  party,  to  tell 
the  truth  and  maintain  the  truth,  cost  what  it  may,  to  attack 
villainy  in  its  higher  walks,  and  strip  presumption  of  its 
vulgar  garb,  to  meet  the  frowns  of  the  enemy  with  the  smiles 
of  a  friend,  and  the  hazard  of  independence  with  the  hope 
of  reward,  should  be  crushed  at  a  blow  if  he  dared  to  tam 
per  with  the  interests,  or  speculate  upon  the  whims  of  the 
public.  Look  at  our  motto — watch  us  narrowly  in  our  future 
course — and  if  we  depart  one  tittle  from  the  lofty  sentiment 
which  we  have  adopted  as  our  guide,  leave  us  to  a  speedy 
annihilation. 

Secondly.  We  have  three  objects  in  view,  which  we  shall 
pursue  through  life,  whether  in  this  place  or  elsewhere  — 
namely,  the  suppression  of  intemperance  and  its  associate  vices, 
the  gradual  emancipation  of  every  slave  in  the  republic,  and 
the  perpetuity  of  national  peace.  In  discussing  these  topics, 
what  is  wanting  in  vigor  shall  be  made  up  in  zeal. 

Thirdly.  Education  will  be  another  prominent  object  of  our 
attention ;  not  that  kind,  however,  which  is  found  in  our  col 
leges  alone  —  not  the  tinsel,  the  frippery,  and  the  incumbrance 
of  classical  learning,  so  called — but  a*  popular,  practical  edu 
cation,  which  will  make  science  familiar  to  the  mechanic,  and 
the  arts  of  easy  attainment,  and  which  will  best  promote  public 
virtue  by  the  extension  of  general  knowledge. 

Fourthly.  The  encouragement  of  national  industry  will  form  ^ 
another  of  our  purposes.  We  are  friends,  even  to  enthusiasm, 
to  what  is  significantly  styled  the  "  American  System."  We 
wish  to  see  a  manufactory  by  the  side  of  every  suitable  stream, 
and,  if  possible,  the  entire  amount  of  cotton  that  may  be  grown 
in  the  country  made  into  good,  substantial  fabrics  for  home 
consumption  and  exportation.  Every  day's  experience  teaches 
this  whole  people  that  their  interests  are  best  promoted  by  the 
erection  of  national  houses  of  industry ;  that  Providence  has 
made  them  necessarily  dependent  on  no  other  country  for  the 
comforts  of  life ;  and  that  the  great  secret  of  national  aggran- 


104  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON.  [^T.  23-24. 

CHAP.  V.  dizement  consists  in  improving  their  natural  advantages,  and 
g  ~  exploring  their  own  resources. 

Finally.  We  have  started  the  Journal  with  the  conviction 
that,  to  be  well  and  permanently  supported,  it  need  only  merit 
support.  We  are  satisfied,  moreover,  that  the  public  voice  is 
nearly  unanimous  in  favor  of  this  establishment.  This  county 
has  probably  a  population  of  twenty  thousand, — nineteen- twen 
tieths  of  whom  are  friendly  to  the  reelection  of  JOHN  QUINCY 
ADAMS  j  but  their  confidence  has  been  abused,  their  views  mis 
represented,  their  feelings  insulted  j  they  have  had  no  organ 
through  which  to  express  their  desires,  or  hold  communications 
with  other  sections  of  the  country ;  they  have  been  upbraided 
with  apostasy,  with  treachery,  with  insincerity  ;  and  they  have 
in  their  meekness  borne  till  endurance  has  passed  its  bounds, 
and  the  pen  of  the  slanderer  become  intolerable. 

We  come,  then,  in  the  name,  and  to  supply  the  wants,  of  the 
people.  Be  ours  the  task,  not  to  rake  open  the  smouldering 
embers  of  party,  but  to  extinguish  them  j  not  to  nourish  ani 
mosities,  but  to  encourage  the  growth  of  liberal  principles  j  not 
to  fight  with  the  shadows  of  things  which  are  dead,  but  with 
existing  evils  of  national  magnitude  j  not  to  give  sound  for 
sense,  or  roaring  for  argument ;  not  to  inflame,  but  to  heal; 
not  to  swagger  and  brag  about  our  exclusive  patriotism,  but  to 
enlarge  the  number  of  patriots ;  not  to  divide  the  community, 

but  to  unite  all  hearts. 

WM.  LLOYD  GARRISON,  Editor. 

HENRY  S.  HULL,  Proprietor. 

In  another  column,  on  the  editorial  page,  an  indignant 
denial  was  given  to  a  report,  said  to  have  been  industri 
ously  circulated  in  Bennington  and  the  neighboring 
villages,  that  the  Journal  was  to  be  influenced  by  a  sect 
and  controlled  by  a  party.  "  The  blockheads  who  have 
had  the  desperate  temerity  to  propagate  this  falsehood/' 
declared  the  editor,  "  have  yet  to  learn  our  character. 
We  should  like  to  see  the  man,  or  body  of  men,  the 
single  sect  or  particular  party,  that  would  dare  to  chalk 
out  our  limits,  or  dictate  our  words,  or  hold  us  account 
able  for  the  soundness  of  our  faith,  or  the  spirit  of  our 
doctrines.  The  bare  insinuation  of  such  an  attempt, 
where  we  are  known,  would  be  met  with  derision.  We 
conduct  a  hireling  press  ! — we  shall  see." 


^ET.  23-24.]  BENNINGTON.  105 

Four  weeks  later,  under  the  head  of  "  Advice  to  Ad-     CHAP.  v. 
visers,"  he  made  this  further  announcement :  1828^29. 

"  The  Editor  of  the  Journal  will  receive  advice  gratuitously  Jour,  of  the 
upon  subjects  relating  to  law,  physic,  and  divinity  —  upon  the  T™"za8?' 
best  mode  of  fattening  swine,  and  raising  good  crops  of  pota 
toes  and  turnips ;  but  he  begs  leave  most  respectfully  to  decline 
any  instruction  as  to  the  manner  in  which  this  paper  should  be 
conducted.  If  he  were  to  gratify  the  different  tastes,  and 
adopt  the  different  views  of  those  few  censors  who  presume  to 
think  that  they  best  understand  the  duties  of  an  editor,  it  is 
not  probable  that  the  public  would  be  better  satisfied  with  the 
result;  and  it  is  certain  that  every  scrutator  must  have  his 
separate  sheet,  embodying  his  separate  notions.  It  is  desirable 
that  the  motto  of  this  paper  should  receive  more  attention,  as 
it  has  not  been  hastily  adopted,  and  will  not  be  abandoned." 

He  could  not  repress,  at  the  outset,  an  expression  of 
his  regret  that  for  the  first  six  weeks  the  exigencies  of 
the  Presidential  campaign  would  reqiiire  him  to  devote 
so  much  space  to  politics,  to  the  exclusion  of  other  themes 
that  were  becoming  dear  to  his  heart ;  and  it  took  the 
form  of  an  apology,  as  if  his  readers  must  also  regret 
the  necessity : 

"  We  have  dipped  rather  deeply  into  politics,  this  week,"  he  ibid.,  Oct.  3, 
wrote,  "  and  must  continue  to  do  so  a  few  weeks  longer.  The 
crisis  which  determines  an  event  of  greater  magnitude  and 
solemnity  than  has  agitated  this  country  since  the  formation  of 
the  Constitution,  is  rapidly  approximating  to  a  close  ,•  and  it  is 
proper  that  the  people  should  read,  reflect  and  inquire,  before 
they  give  their  FINAL  GREAT  DECISION.  When  the  election  is 
over,  our  literary  and  moral  departments  will  exhibit  a  fulness 
and  excellence  commensurate  to  their  importance." 

His  promise  with  reference  to  the  political  course  of 
the  paper  was  faithfully  kept,  and  the  gentlemen  who 
had  invited  him  to  come  and  vindicate  Bennington  and 
the  State  from  the  imputation  of  Jacksonism  had  no 
reason  to  complain  of  the  heartiness  with  which  he 
advocated  the  claims  of  Mr.  Adams,  or  the  vigor  with 
which  he  denounced  General  Jackson  and  his  followers. 
Jackson's  high-handed  and  arbitrary  acts  in  Louisiana 


106  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKRISON.  [^ET.  23-24. 

CHAP.  v.  and  Florida,  his  brutal  murder  of  Indian  prisoners  in 
1828^29.  the  latter  Territory,  his  warlike  tastes,  his  duelling  pro 
pensities,  and  especially  his  sinfulness  as  a  slaveholder 
and  slave-trader,  were  all  dwelt  upon,  and  the  demoral 
ization  sure  to  follow  upon  his  accession  to  the  Presi 
dency  and  his  introduction  of  the  spoils  system  in  our 
politics  was  predicted.  Warning  was  also  given  of  his 
certain  hostility  to  any  plan  for  the  prohibition  of 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  rendering  unavail 
ing  for  four  or  eight  years  any  efforts  in  that  direction, 
and  his  defeat  was  urged,  if  only  for  that  consideration. 
Mr,  Adams's  reelection  was  always  assumed  and  pre 
dicted,  and  his  able  and  successful  administration  warmly 
eulogized ;  but  that  the  result  was,  after  all,  deemed 
doubtful,  is  evident  from  a  brief  editorial  paragraph, 
entitled  "  Some  Cause  for  Thankfulness/7  which  appeared 
a  few  days  before  the  election  : 

Jour,  of  the  "  Whatever  may  be  the  result  of  the  present  tremendous 
^i^iSaS*  conflict,  we  shall  thank  God  on  our  bended  knees  that  we  have 
been  permitted  to  denounce,  as  unworthy  of  the  suffrages  of  a 
moral  and  religious  people,  a  man  whose  hands  are  crimsoned 
with  innocent  blood,  whose  lips  are  full  of  profanity,  who 
looks  on  ' blood  and  carnage  with  philosophic  composure'  — a 
slaveholder,  and,  what  is  more  iniquitous,  a  buyer  and  seller  of 
human  flesh  —  a  military  despot,  who  has  broken  the  laws  of 
his  country  —  and  one  whose  only  recommendations  are  that 
he  has  fought  many  duels  —  filled  many  offices,  and  failed  in 
all  —  achieved  the  battle  of  New  Orleans,  at  the  expense  of 
constitutional  rights  —  and  that  he  possesses  the  fighting  pro 
pensities  and  courage  of  a  tiger.  We  care  not  how  numerous 
may  be  his  supporters :  to  be  in  the  minority  against  him 
would  be  better  than  to  receive  the  commendations  of  a  large 
and  deluded  majority." 

After  the   election  returns   had  indicated  the   over 
whelming  success  of  the  Democrats  and  the  election  of 
Jackson,  Mr.  Garrison  reviewed  the  result  and  its  prob 
able  consequences,  in  three  dignified  articles,  under  the 
ibut.jvov.    title  of  "  The  Politician  " ;  the  key  to  his  treatment  of  the 
j258.  matter  being  given  in  the  extract  from  Junius  prefixed 


MT.  23-24.] 


BENNINGTON. 


107 


to  them.  "  I  believe  there  is  no  man,  however  indifferent 
about  the  interests  of  this  country,  who  will  not  readily 
confess  that  the  situation  to  which  we  are  now  reduced, 
whether  it  has  arisen  from  the  violence  of  faction,  or 
from  an  aberration  of  government,  justifies  the  most 
melancholy  apprehensions,  and  calls  for  the  exertion  of 
whatever  wisdom  or  vigor  is  left  among  us."  Some  lines 
in  blank  verse,  "  To  the  American  People,"  signed  "  A. 
O.  B.,"  expressed  in  more  impassioned  phrase  the  editor's 
grief  at  the  national  disgrace.  Beginning, 

"Where  is  your  wisdom  fled — or  sense  of  shame — 
Or  boasted  virtue,  strong  in  every  siege  ? 
Doth  valor  teach  the  head  or  mend  the  heart  ? 
Is  ignorance  to  legislate  and  rule, 
And  crime  but  lead  the  way  to  high  renown  f 

he  concluded  with, 

"  My  country !    oh  my  country  !   I  could  weep, 
In  agony  of  soul,  hot,  bloody  tears 
To  wipe  away  the  blemish  on  your  name, 
Fix'd  foully  by  one  FATAL  PRECEDENT." 

The  slavery  question  engaged  his  attention  from  the 
outset,  and  the  flame  kindled  by  Lundy  now  burned  with 
out  cessation,  and  with  ever-increasing  intensity.  In  the 
very  first  number  of  the  Journal,  Mr.  Garrison  proposed 
the  formation  of  anti-slavery  societies  in  Vermont,  and 
spoke  of  the  "  importance  of  petitioning  Congress  this 
session,  in  conjunction  with  our  Southern  brethren,  for 
the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia."  A 
few  weeks  later  he  recommended  "  the  immediate  forma 
tion  of  an  anti- slavery  society  in  every  considerable  town 
in  the  twelve  free  States,  for  the  purpose  (among  other 
things)  of  providing  means  for  the  transportation  of  such 
liberated  slaves  and  free  colored  people  as  are  desirous 
of  emigrating  to  a  more  genial  clime"  ;  arguing  that  "if 
the  Southern  slaveholders  will  consent  to  part  with  their 
'  property J  without  recompense,  every  other  section  of 
the  Union  is  bound,  by  the  principles  of  equity  and  in 
terest,  to  sacrifice  some  money  for  the  removal  of  the 


CHAP.  v. 

1828-29. 


Jour,  of  the 

Times,  Dec. 

19,  1828. 


Ibid.,  Dec. 
5,  1828. 


108 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKRISON. 


.  23-24. 


10^828* 


CHAP.  v.  curse."  The  scales  of  Colonization  had  not  yet  fallen 
1828^29.  from  his  eyes,  but  he  went  no  further  in  support  of  the 
scheme  than  to  make  the  above  recommendation.  His 
practical  work,  to  petition  Congress  for  the  abolition  of 
slavery  in  the  nation's  capital,  was  at  once  vigorously 
undertaken.  In  his  second  number  he  referred  to  the 
petition  presented  to  Congress  at  its  last  session,  signed 
by  more  than  a  thousand  residents  of  the  District  (in 
cluding  all  the  District  Judges),  praying  for  abolition 
"  at  such  time  and  in  such  manner  as  Congress  might 
deem  expedient,"  and  suggested  that  a  meeting  of  the 
citizens  of  Bennington  should  be  immediately  convened, 
to  consider  the  subject.  Acknowledging  the  receipt  of  a 

Jour,  of  the  communication  on  slavery,  he  said  :  "  It  is  time  that  a 
voice  of  remonstrance  went  forth  from  the  North,  that 
should  peal  in  the  ears  of  every  slaveholder  like  a  roar 
of  thunder.  .  .  .  For  ourselves,  we  are  resolved  to 
agitate  this  subject  to  the  utmost;  nothing  but  death 
shall  prevent  us  from  denouncing  a  crime  which  has  no 
parallel  in  human  depravity  ;  we  shall  take  high  ground. 
The  alarm  must  be  perpetual." 

Four  weeks  later  (November  7),  and  four  days  before  the 
Presidential  election,  he  succeeded  in  convening  a  meet 
ing  of  citizens  at  the  Academy,  at  which  the  following 
petition,  written  by  himself,  was  read  and  adopted,  and 
copies  were  ordered  to  be  sent  to  the  several  towns  in  the 
State  for  signature,  and  to  the  newspapers  for  insertion. 
The  Chairman  of  the  meeting  was  Daniel  Church,  Esq., 
and  the  Secretary,  James  Ballard,  the  Principal  of  the 
Seminary,  between  whom  and  Mr.  Garrison  a  warm 
friendship  had  sprung  up. 


ibid.,  NOV.    To  the  Honorable  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of 
the  United  States  of  America,  in  Congress  assembled:  — 

The  petition  of  the  subscribers,  inhabitants  of  the  State  of 
Vermont,  humbly  suggests  to  your  honorable  bodies  the  pro 
priety  of  adopting  some  measures  for  the  abolition  of  slavery 
in  the  District  of  Columbia. 


Mi.  23-24.]  BENNINGTON.  109 

Your  petitioners  deem  it  unnecessary  to  attempt  to  maintain,  CHAP.  v. 
by  elaborate  arguments,  that  the  existence  of  slavery  is  highly 
detrimental  to  the  happiness,  peace  and  prosperity  of  that 
nation  in  whose  bosom  and  under  whose  auspices  it  is  nour 
ished  ;  and  especially,  that  it  is  inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of 
our  government  and  laws.  All  this  is  readily  admitted  by 
every  patriot  and  Christian.  But  the  time  has  come  when  the 
sincerity  of  our  professions  should  be  evinced  not  by  words 
merely. 

The  toleration  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  it  is 
conceived,  can  be  justified  on  no  tenable  grounds.  On  the 
contrary,  so  long  as  it  continues,  just  so  long  will  it  be  a 
reproach  to  our  national  character.  This  District  is  the  prop 
erty  of  the  nation;  its  internal  government,  therefore,  is  a 
matter  that  concerns  every  individual.  We  are  ashamed,  when 
we  know  that  the  manacled  slave  is  driven  to  market  by  the 
doors  of  our  Capitol,  and  sold  like  a  beast  in  the  very  place 
where  are  assembled  the  representatives  of  a  free  and  Christian 
people. 

On  this  subject,  it  is  conceived,  there  can  be  no  collision  of 
sentiment.  The  proposed  abolition  will  interfere  with  no  State 
rights.  Beyond  this  District,  Congress  has  no  power  to  legis 
late  —  so  far,  at  least,  as  slavery  is  concerned ;  but  it  can,  by 
one  act,  efface  this  foul  stain  from  our  national  reputation.  It 
is  gratifying  to  believe,  that  a  large  majority  of  the  inhabitants 
residing  in  the  District,  and  also  of  our  more  Southern  brethren, 
are  earnest  for  the  abolition. 

Your  petitioners  ask  of  your  honorable  bodies  to  liberate  the 
slave  as  soon  as  his  interest  and  welfare  shall  demand  it.  Your 
own  wisdom  and  humanity  will  best  suggest  the  manner  in 
which  his  bonds  may  be  safely  broken. 

Your  petitioners  deem  it  preposterous,  that,  while  there  is 
one  half  of  the  States  in  which  slavery  does  not  exist,  and  while 
a  large  majority  of  our  white  population  are  desirous  of  seeing 
it  extirpated,  this  evil  is  suffered  to  canker  in  the  vitals  of  the 
republic.  We  humbly  pray  your  honorable  bodies,  therefore, 
not  to  let  the  present  session  of  Congress  pass,  without  giving 
this  subject  a  serious  and  deliberate  consideration. 

And,  as  in  duty  bound,  we  will  ever  pray. 

As  all  postmasters  at  that  time  enjoyed  the  frank 
ing  privilege,  and  mail-matter  could  be  sent  to  or  by 
them  free  of  postage,  it  involved  no  pecuniary  burden 


110 


WILLIAM  LLOYD   GAKKISON. 


.  23-24. 


CHAP.  V. 

1828-29. 


Jour,  of  the 

Times,  Jan. 

23,  1829. 


Ibid.,  Feb. 
6,  1829. 


Ibid.,  Nov. 

21,   1828. 


beyond  the  cost  of  paper  to  supply  every  postmaster  in 
the  State  with  a  copy  of  this  petition,  with  the  request 
that  he  would  obtain  as  many  signatures  in  his  town  as 
convenient,  or  request  the  minister  of  the  parish  to  do 
so,  and  return  the  same  to  the  Editor  of  the  Journal  of 
the  Times  by  or  before  the  middle  of  December.  That 
Mr.  Garrison  did  not  wait  for  the  Bennington  citizens  to 
meet  and  endorse  the  petition  before  he  sent  it  to  the 
postmasters  seems  probable  from  the  date  appended  to 
this  request  —  October  20,  1828, —  more  than  a  fortnight 
before  the  meeting  at  the  Academy.  The  postmasters  in 
most  of  the  towns  responded  nobly,  and  although  some 
of  the  larger  places,  like  Burlington,  Montpelier,  and 
Brattleboro,  sent  no  returns,  Mr.  Garrison  had  the  satis 
faction  of  transmitting  to  the  Representative  of  his  dis 
trict  in  Congress  a  petition  bearing  2352  names  as  the 
voice  of  Vermont  in  favor  of  freedom, —  probably  the 
most  numerously -signed  petition  on  the  subject  offered 
during  that  session.  It  was  promptly  presented  on  the 
day  of  its  receipt  (January  26,  1829),  and  referred  to  the 
Committee  on  the  District  of  Columbia. 

While  hopeful  that  Congress  would  give  the  subject 
favorable  consideration  (and  the  passage  by  the  Penn 
sylvania  House  of  Representatives,  by  a  nearly  unani 
mous  vote,  of  a  resolution  requesting  their  Senators 
and  Representatives  in  Congress  to  vote  for  abolition 
indicated  Northern  sympathy  with  the  measure),  Mr. 
Garrison  foresaw  the  wrathful  denunciations  which  the 
proposition  would  receive  from  the  Southern  members. 

"  It  requires  no  spirit  of  prophecy,"  he  said,  "  to  predict  that 
it  will  create  great  opposition.  An  attempt  will  be  made  to 
frighten  Northern  '  dough-faces,'  as  in  the  case  of  the  Missouri 
question.  There  will  be  an  abundance  of  furious  declamation, 
menace  and  taunt.  Are  we  therefore  to  approach  the  subject 
timidly  —  with  half  a  heart  —  as  if  we  were  treading  on  forbid 
den  ground  ?  No,  indeed  —  but  earnestly,  fearlessly,  as  be 
comes  men  who  are  determined  to  clear  their  country  and 
themselves  from  the  guilt  of  oppressing  God's  free  and  lawful 
creatures." 


.  23-24.] 


BENNINGTON. 


Ill 


The  debate  in  Congress  occurred  on  the  6th  of  Janu 
ary,  1829,  when  the  Hon.  Charles  Miner,  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  introduced  in  the  House  of  Representatives  a 
preamble  setting  forth  the  iniquities  and  horrors  of  the 
slave-trade  as  carried  on  in  the  District,  and  the  power 
and  duty  of  Congress  to  legislate  concerning  it;  and 
proposed  resolutions  that  the  Committee  on  the  District 
be  instructed  to  inquire  into  the  subject,  to  provide  such 
amendments  to  existing  laws  as  should  seem  to  them 
just,  and  furthermore  to  consider  the  expediency  of  pro 
viding  by  law  for  the  gradual  abolition  of  slavery  itself 
therein.  Mr.  Miner  supported  his  motion  in  an  elo 
quent  speech,  and  both  resolutions  were  subsequently 
adopted  by  heavy  majorities, — that  on  the  slave-trade 
receiving  two-thirds  of  the  votes  cast;  and  the  other, 
concerning  gradual  emancipation,  114  votes  against  66 
in  opposition.  The  friends  of  emancipation  derived 
great  encouragement  from  this,  and  felt  mortified  that 
any  Northern  members  should  have  voted  against  the 
resolutions.  Mr.  Garrison  was  prompt  to  denounce  and 
pillory  the  three  New  England  representatives  who 
were  recreant  to  their  duty,  namely,  Mr.  Ripley  of 
Maine  and  Mr.  Harvey  of  New  Hampshire,  who  voted 
against  the  consideration  of  the  question,  and  Mr.  Mal- 
lary  of  Vermont,  who  alone  among  the  New  England 
members  opposed  by  his  vote  the  resolution  in  favor  of 
gradual  emancipation  in  the  District.  The  caustic  com 
ments  of  the  Bennington  editor  on  their  action  so  stung 
Messrs.  Ripley  and  Mallary  that  they  addressed  per 
sonal  letters  to  him  in  explanation  and  defence  of  it; 
but  he  declined  to  accept  their  excuses  as  valid,  and 
branded  Ripley  and  Harvey  as  Northern  "  dough-faces." 
Other  New  England  newspapers  echoed  his  indignant 
protest. 

The  report  of  the  Committee  to  whom  the  resolutions 
were  referred  was  presented  on  the  29th  of  January, 
and  betrayed  at  once  the  determination  of  the  South  to 
allow  no  interference  whatsoever  with  slavery  in  the  Dis- 


CHAP.  V. 

1828-29. 


James  IV. 

Ripley. 
Jonathan 

Harvey. 
Rollin  C. 
Mallary. 


Jour,  of  the 

Times,  Feb. 

20,  Mar.  6, 

1829. 


Ibid.,  Mar. 
6,  1829. 


112  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKKISON.  [^T.  23-24. 


CHAP  v.  trict.  All  agitation  of  the  subject  was  deprecated  as 
1828-29.  mischievous  and  tending  to  insubordination  and  rest 
lessness  on  the  part  of  the  slaves,  "  who  would  otherwise 
remain  comparatively  happy  and  contented";  emancipa 
tion  in  the  District  would  disturb  the  stability  of  affairs 
not  only  in  the  adjoining  slave  States,  but  throughout 
the  South  ;  the  inhabitants  of  the  District  ought  not  to  be 
deprived  of  the  rights  of  property  which  had  been  theirs 
under  the  laws  of  Virginia  and  Maryland.  Moreover, 
the  traffic  in  slaves  constantly  going  on  in  the  District 
was  actually  beneficial,  in  that  the  transportation  of 
slaves  to  the  South  was  one  way  of  gradually  diminish 
ing  the  evil  complained  of  ;  "  and  although  violence 
might  sometimes  be  done  to  their  feelings  in  the  separa 
tion  of  families,  yet  it  should  be  some  consolation  to 
those  whose  feelings  were  interested  in  their  behalf,  to 
know  that  their  condition  was  more  frequently  bettered, 
and  their  minds  [made]  happier  by  the  exchange  "  !  "It 
jour,  of  the  is  precisely  such  a  paper,"  declared  Mr.  Garrison  in  his 

Times,  Afar.  .  .    i_.  «      •  ITT 

20,  1829.  review  ot  it,  "  as  one  might  naturally  suppose  would  be 
presented  to  a  club  of  slaveholders  assembled  together 
to  quiet  their  consciences  by  arguing  that  the  existence 
of  the  evil  would  be  less  hazardous  and  demoralizing 
than  its  removal  "  ;  and  he  pronounced  it  "  the  most 
refined  cruelty,  the  worst  apology  for  the  most  relentless 
tyranny."  It  was  a  crushing  blow  to  all  further  effort  at 
that  session.  One  month  later,  Andrew  Jackson  and  the 
Democratic  party  came  into  power,  and  Congress  passed 
no  further  resolutions  in  favor  of  freedom  in  the  District 
until  the  secession  of  the  South  made  it  possible  for  a 
Northern  Congress  to  remove  the  blot  of  slavery  from 
the  nation's  capital. 

Slave-hunting  on   Northern  soil  was   so  common  an 

occurrence  in  1828  that  the  frequent  recapture  and  return 

to  bondage  of  the  poor  fugitives  excited  scarcely  any 

ibid.,  Oct.    notice,  and  even  such  tragedies  as  the  attempted  suicide, 

3I'i?2s'.  I2'   at  Rochester,   N.  Y.,   of  one   who   preferred   death  to 

slavery,  and  the  execution,  in  southern  Pennsylvania,  of 


.  23-24.] 


BENNINGTON. 


113 


another  for  having  killed  the  wretch  who  had  captured 
and  was  carrying  him  back  to  the  South,  were  men 
tioned  in  the  briefest  manner  and  without  comment. 
The  North  submitted  without  protest  to  the  obligations 
imposed  upon  it  by  the  slave-catching  clause  of  the  Con 
stitution  and  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act  of  1793.  In  alluding 
to  the  anti-Masonic  excitement  then  agitating  the  coun 
try,  in  consequence  of  the  disappearance  of  Morgan,  Mr. 
Garrison  exclaimed :  "  All  this  fearful  commotion  has 
arisen  from  the  abduction  of  one  man.  More  than  two 
millions  of  unhappy  beings  are  groaning  out  their  lives 
in  bondage,  and  scarcely  a  pulse  quickens,  or  a  heart 
leaps,  or  a  tongue  pleads  in  their  behalf.  'Tis  a  trifling 
affair,  which  concerns  nobody.  Oh  for  the  spirit  that 
now  rages,  to  break  every  fetter  of  oppression  ! " 

There  was  not  a  dull  or  unattractive  number  of  the 
Journal  of  the  Times,  and  a  perusal  of  its  file  inclines  one 
to  believe  the  assertion  of  Horace  Greeley  that  it  was 
"  about  the  ablest  and  most  interesting  newspaper  ever 
issued  in  Vermont."  One  column  was  always  devoted  to 
the  subject  of  Temperance,  and  in  his  second  number 
Mr.  Garrison  urged  the  claims  to  support  of  the  Na 
tional  Philanthropist,  which  had  now  reverted  to  Mr. 
Collier's  hands,  and  was  in  danger  of  sinking.  His  in 
terest  in  the  local  temperance  society  was  also  manifested. 
The  subject  of  war  and  the  exertions  of  William  Ladd  1 
in  behalf  of  peace  were  frequently  alluded  to  in  the 
Journal,  as  they  had  been  in  the  Philanthropist  and  Free 
Press;  Mr.  Ladd  having  visited  and  spoken  in  New- 
buryport  while  Mr.  Garrison  was  editing  the  latter 
paper,  and  found  in  him  a  ready  listener.  Much  space 

1  William  Ladd,  a  native  of  Exeter,  N.  H.  (1778),  graduate  of  Harvard 
College  (1797),  and  for  a  number  of  years  a  sea-captain,  devoted  himself 
during  the  last  eighteen  years  of  his  life  (1823-1841)  to  the  advocacy  of 
the  Peace  cause,  and  was  largely  instrumental  in  establishing  the  Ame 
rican  Peace  Society  in  1828.  See  his  Memoir  by  John  Hemmenway, 
Boston,  1872,  and  Mrs.  Child's  '  Letters  from  New  York,'  1st  series,  p.  212. 
Mr.  Garrison  addressed  a  sonnet  to  this  "great  advocate  "  (Lib.  1:  39),  but 
more  intimate  acquaintance  led  to  the  judgment,  "He  is  a  good-natured 
man,  but  somewhat  superficial"  (MS.,  spring  of  1833,  to  Henry  E.  Benson). 

VOL.  I.— 8 


CHAP.  V. 

1828-29. 


Jour,  of  the 

Times,  Feb. 

6,  1829. 


American 
Conflict, 
1:115- 


114 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKBISON. 


23-24. 


Jour,  of  the 

Times,  Oct. 

31,  1828. 


CHAP.  v.  was  devoted  also  to  the  movement  with  which,  as  has 
1828^29.  been  already  stated,  he  heartily  sympathized,  against 
Ante,  p.  84.  carrying  the  mails  on  the  Sabbath.  His  orthodoxy  be 
trayed  itself  in  this  and  in  other  ways,  and  an  incidental 
reference  to  the  "  novel,  illogical,  subtle,  and  inconclu 
sive  arguments  "  of  a  discourse  of  Rev.  John  Pierpont's, 
to  which  he  had  listened  some  months  before,  elicited  a 
letter  from  that  gentleman,  who  felt  that  injustice  had 
been  done  him.  Mr.  Garrison  not  only  printed  the  letter, 
but  gave  copious  extracts  from  the  discourse,  with  com 
ments,  at  the  same  time  declaring  that  he  enthusiasti 
cally  admired  everything  in  Mr.  Pierpont  but  his  theology. 
"  As  a  beautiful,  finished,  and  elegant  writer,  I  know  not 
his  superior  in  the  twenty-four  States ;  and  his  taste  in 
poetry  and  literature  is  before  any  other  man's."  Mr. 
Pierpont  having  thanked  him  for  his  manliness  in  send 
ing  him  a  copy  of  the  Journal  containing  the  strictures 
in  question,  the  editor  replied :  "  I  have  never  said  aught 
in  print  against  any  individual  without  transmitting  to 
him  a  copy  of  my  remarks  —  and  I  never  shall." 

That  he  went  regularly  to  church  each  Sunday  is  to  be 
inferred  from  this  paragraph  in  the  Journal: 

"  We  have  suffered  for  two  or  three  Sabbaths  excessively 
from  the  cold — and  so  have  many  others.  Two  stoves,  and  no 
fire,  led  us  to  conclude  that  the  Irishman's  plan  had  been 
adopted,  who,  on  learning  one  stove  saved  half  the  wood,  said 
he  would  buy  two  and  save  the  whole.  Provision,  we  are  glad 
to  learn,  has  been  made  for  warming  the  meeting-house,  and 
people  may  now  attend  worship  without  suffering  from  the 
cold." 

Mr.  Garrison's  muse  was  active  during  these  fall  and 
winter  months,  and  no  less  than  fifteen  pieces  of  verse 
by  "A.  O.  B."  —  sonnets,  blank  verse,  etc.  —  appeared 
in  the  poetry  column  between  October  and  March,  be 
sides  a  longer  poem  on  his  birthday  (supposed  to  be 
his  twenty-fourth,  but  really  his  twenty-third),  which 
followed  an  editorial  on  the  same  theme.  One  of  the 
sonnets  was  inscribed  to  his  spectacles,  and  celebrated 


Ibid.,  Dec. 
5,  1828. 


.  23-24.] 


BENNINGTON. 


115 


1828-29. 


Jour,  of  the 

Times,  Dec. 

5,  1828. 


their  praise,  and  most  of  the  other  pieces  were  amatory,  CHAP.  v. 
descriptive,  sentimental,  or  patriotic.  Mrs.  Hemans  con 
tinued  to  be  a  never-failing  source  of  poetic  supply,  but 
only  four  poems  by  Whittier  appeared,  the  poet  being 
now  engaged  in  editing  the  American  Manufacturer  at 
Boston,  a  paper  which  had  been  recently  established  by 
Mr.  Collier  in  the  interest  of  manufactures  and  the 
"  American  System."  He  had  accepted  the  position  by 
the  advice  of  Mr.  Garrison,  and  though  he  received 
scarcely  any  other  compensation  than  his  board  at  "  Par 
son  Collier's,"  he  did  not  regret  the  experience,  as  it 
opened  the  way  to  other  and  more  congenial  editorial 
engagements.  "  Our  friend  Whittier,"  wrote  Mr.  Gar 
rison,  in  introducing  a  poem  of  his,  "  seems  determined 
to  elicit  our  best  panegyrics,  and  not  ours  only,  but  also 
those  of  the  public.  His  genius  and  situation  no  more 
correspond  with  each  other  than  heaven  and  earth.  But 
let  him  not  despair.  Fortune  will  come,  ere  long,  '  with 
both  hands  full.7 "  Another  young  editor  who  was  no 
ticed  and  commended  in  the  Journal  was  George  D. 
Prentice,  then  conducting  the  New  England  Weekly  Re 
view  at  Hartford,  in  which  he  was,  a  year  later,  to  be 
succeeded  by  Whittier  ;  but  while  praising  his  vigor  and 
independence,  Mr.  Garrison  also  criticized  the  tendency 
to  coarseness  which  even  then  betrayed  itself  in  his 
writings. 

The  winter  which  he  spent  in  Bennington  was  a  very 
happy  one  to  Mr.  Garrison.  He  was  relieved,  from  the 
outset,  of  all  pecuniary  responsibility  and  anxiety,  the 
gentlemen  who  had  invited  him  there  assuming  the 
financial  risks  of  the  enterprise,  while  they  gave  him 
absolute  discretion  and  independence  in  the  editorial 
management  of  the  Journal.  The  literary  merit  of  the 
paper,  and  the  fearless  and  aggressive  tone  of  its  leading 
articles,  attracted  instant  attention,  and  it  was  speedily 
recognized  by  the  editorial  fraternity  as  one  of  the  ablest 
and  best  of  the  country  newspapers.  Beginning  without 
a  subscriber,  it  counted  six  hundred  on  its  list  at  the  end 


116 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKKISON. 


[>ET.  23-24. 


CHAP.  V. 

1828-29. 


of  the  first  week,  which  indicated  the  dissatisfaction  felt 
towards  the  recreant  Gazette.  The  latter  paper  sought 
to  ridicule  the  "  Boston  man  "  who  had  been  imported  to 
start  an  opposition  paper,  and  made  the  most  of  the 
prejudice  which  some  of  the  Vermont ers  felt  towards 
the  city  upstart  who  had  presumed  to  come  and  en 
lighten  them  as  to  their  duties,  and  who  was  thought  to 
be  over-nice  in  matters  of  dress ; l  but  the  editor  of  the 
Journal  rarely  deigned  to  notice  the  attacks  on  his  paper, 
and  never  those  on  himself.  He  quickly  won  friends 
whose  admiration  and  love  he  never  lost,  and  who 
attached  themselves  to  him  with  the  loyal  devotion 
which  characterized  those  who  followed  his  leadership 
in  after  years.  Chief  among  these,  as  already  men 
tioned,  was  James  Ballard,  the  Principal  of  the  "Ben- 
nington  English  and  Classical  Seminary  for  Young 
Gentlemen  and  Ladies,"  an  institution  which  was  the 
pride  of  the  town,  and  which  attracted  pupils  from  a 
considerable  distance.  He  was  "  a  man  born  to  impress 
Ellis' s  Life  and  inspire,"  and  a  most  successful  teacher,  combining 
firmness  with  gentleness,  physical  with  moral  courage, 
enthusiasm  and  energy  with  a  tender,  affectionate,  and 
deeply  religious  nature.  The  two  men  were  irresistibly 
attracted  to  one  another,  and  spent  much  time  together, 
discussing  projects  for  the  advancement  of  the  race; 
and  when  Mr.  Ballard  had  a  controversy  with  the  Acad 
emy  Committee,  which  led  to  his  retiring  and  setting  up 
a  rival  establishment,  the  Journal  warmly  sustained  his 
cause.2 

Mr.  Garrison's  home  in  Bennington  was  at  the  boarding- 
house  of  Deacon  Erwin  Safford,  which  was  patronized 

1  "  I  remember  Mr.  Garrison  at  the  time  he  was  in  Bennington.    He  was 
then  in  the  beauty  and  strength  of  early  manhood.     He  dressed  in  a  black 
dress  coat,  black  trousers,  white  vest,  and  walked  as  erect  as  an  Indian  " 
(  James  A.  Briggs,  in  N.  Y.  Evening  Post,  August  5,  1879). 

2  Mr.  Ballard  was  one  of  the  first  subscribers  to  the  lAberator,  a  Vice- 
President  of  the  Vermont  Anti-Slavery  Society,  and  one  of  the  Secre 
taries  of  the  New  England  Anti-Slavery  Convention  held  in  Boston  May 
24,  1836.     He  subsequently  became  a  Congregational  minister,  and  died 
in  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan,  Jan.  7,  1881. 


ofE.  H. 

Chapin, 

pp.  26-30. 


.  23-24.] 


BENNINGTON. 


117 


1828-29. 


chiefly  by  pupils  of  the  Seminary  from  abroad,  and  was  CHAP.  v. 
near  his  office,  on  the  stage  road  to  Troy.  The  printing- 
office  of  the  Journal  faced  the  village  green,  and  its  front 
windows  looked  eastward,  across  the  valley  in  which  lies 
the  village  of  East  Bennington,  to  the  great  wall  of  the 
Green  Mountains,  while  the  rear  windows  commanded 
a  view  of  the  beautiful  Mount  Anthony.  Ever  a  pas 
sionate  lover  of  nature,  Mr.  Garrison's  enthusiasm  over 
the  scenery  around  Bennington  could  scarcely  find  ex 
pression  in  words.  His  spirits  were  exuberant,  and  he 
seemed  each  week  to  be  more  in  love  with  his  adopted 
State,  and  to  regard  his  removal  to  Vermont  as  a  wise 
and  fortunate  step.  "  For  moral  worth,  virtue  and  dili 
gence,"  he  exclaimed,  "  we  would  not  exchange  it  for  any 
State  out  of  New  England";  and  he  praised  the  Ver 
mont  people  as  possessed  of  "  large,  sound,  roundabout 
sense,"  and  declared  that  "a  more  hardy,  independent, 
frank,  generous  race  do  not  exist."  To  a  correspondent 
who  had  expressed  fears  about  the  climate,  he  declaimed 
in  a  manner  which  would  have  done  credit  to  a  native : 


Jour,  of  the 

Times,  Nov. 

14,  1828. 


**  Our  Vermont  climate  against  the  world  for  a  better  !  .  .  . 
0,  there's  nothing  comparable  to  our  clear  blue  sky,  arching 
the  high  and  eternal  ramparts  of  nature  which  tower  up  on 
every  side  :  —  talk  as  you  may  of  the  dreamy,  unsubstantial 
atmosphere  of  Italy,  and  the  more  vigorous  one  of  Switzer 
land.  —  And,  moreover,  such  stars !  so  large,  and  gorgeous,  and 
soul-overpowering — painting  the  heavens  with  such  glorious  and 
never-fading  colors !  We  have  been  so  long  habituated  to  look 
up  through  the  congregated  smokes  of  a  city,  and  to  see  such 
dirty  and  discolored  clouds,  with  here  and  there  a  fainting  star 
just  visible  over  the  top  of  some  tall  spire  or  elongated  chimney, 
that  here  we  inhabit  another  clime,  and  behold  another  crea 
tion.  The  competition  of  a  few  moments  with  one  of  our  moun 
tain  gales,  as  it  comes  sweeping  down  to  the  plain,  rough  and 
kind  as  the  heart  of  a  Yankee,  will  put  every  drop  of  blood 
in  motion,  and  strengthen  every  limb." 

And  he  apostrophized  the  Green  Mountains  in  the 
following  sonnet : 


Ibid.,  Nov. 
28,  1828. 


118  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON.  [^T.  23-24. 


Jour,  of  the       Stupendous  monuments  of  God's  right  hand! 

^i^i'sS*'        Lifting  your  summits  upwards  to  the  skies, 
And  holding  converse  with  their  mysteries,  — 
There  dress'd  in  living  garniture  ye  stand, 
The  pride  and  wonder  of  our  native  land. 
My  soul  is  welling  to  my  very  eyes  — 
My  every  pulse  leaps  with  a  strange  surprise, 
As  now  your  huge  dimensions  I  command. 
0  !   ye  do  shame  the  proudest  works  of  Art,  — 
Tower,  temple,  pyramid  and  chiselled  pile  ; 
For  these  are  but  the  pigmy  feats  of  Toil, 
The  playthings  of  Decay  —  But  ye  impart 
Lessons  of  infinite  wisdom  to  the  heart, 
And  stand  in  nature's  strength,  which  Time  cannot  despoil. 

So  inspiring  was  the  free  mountain  air  that  all  worthy 
and  noble  objects  seemed  easy  and  possible  of  accom 
plishment,  and  when,  at  the  beginning  of  1829,  Mr.  Gar 
rison  indulged  in  a  retrospect  of  the  past  year,  and 
looked  forward  to  the  work  of  the  new  one,  the  election 
of  Jackson  was  the  only  shadow  upon  the  picture,  and 
all  else  was  bright  and  cheering  to  his  vision. 

Meanwhile,  Benjamin  Lundy  at  Baltimore  was  anx 
iously  watching  the  course  of  his  young  disciple,  whose 
heart  he  had  seemed  to  touch,  and  whose  soul  he  had 
kindled,  beyond  that  of  any  other  man  whom  he  had  en 
countered  in  all  his  pilgrimages,  north,  south,  east,  or 
west.  There  is  a  pathetic  picture  of  his  past  disappoint 
ments  and  his  present  anxious  hope  in  the  greeting 
which  he  gave  the  Journal  of  the  Times  in  the  Genius  : 

G.  U.  £.,  u  The  editor  of  this  paper  has  shewn  a  laudable  disposition 
®ec-  *3-  to  advocate  the  claims  of  the  poor  distressed  African  upon  our 
sympathy  and  justice  ;  and  if  he  continue  to  do  so,  his  talents 
will  render  him  a  most  valuable  coadjutor  in  this  holy  under 
taking.  Greatly,  indeed,  shall  we  rejoice,  if  even  one,  faithful, 
like  '  Abdiel,'  can  be  '  among  the  faithless  found,'  who,  after 
having  professed  loudly,  have  generally  abandoned  their  post, 
and  left  the  unfortunate  negro  to  his  fate.  There  are  many 
who  are  ready  to  acknowledge  —  0  yes,  they  will  acknowledge 
(good  honest  souls!)  with  due  frankness  and  alacrity  —  that 
something  should  be  done  for  the  abolition  of  slavery.  They  will, 


.  23-24.] 


BENNINGTON. 


119 


also,  pen  a  paragraph — perhaps  an  article,  or  so — and  then  — 
the  subject  is  EXHAUSTED  ! !  They  cannot,  for  the  lives  of  them, 
discover  how  the  condition  of  the  colored  race  can  be  meliorated 
by  their  exertions —  (neither  can  any  one  else,  unless  they  make 
themselves  acquainted  with  the  subject,  and  muster  up  virtue  and 
courage  to  act,  as  other  reformers  have  done) — and  they  retire  from 
the  field  of  labor,  many  of  them,  ere  one  drop  of  sweat  has  earned 
the  trifling  reward  of  a  cent.  We  will  not,  however,  pursue  this 
part  of  the  subject,  lest  our  friend  Garrison  may  think  that  we 
are  about  to  insinuate  a  vote  of  censure  against  him,  in  antici 
pation!  In  truth,  we  do  hope  that  he  will  remain  true  to  the 
cause.  Though  he  may  not  adopt  the  language  which  the  im 
mortal  Cowper  puts  in  the  mouth  of  his  perfect  patriot,  viz. : 

'  In  Freedom's  field  advancing  his  firm  foot, 
He  plants  it  on  the  line  that  Justice  draws, 
And  will  prevail,  or  perish  in  her  cause'; 

still,  we  trust  he  will  always  be  found  on  the  side  of  humanity, 
and  actively  engaged  in  the  holy  contest  of  virtue  against  vice  — 
philanthropy  against  cruelty — liberty  against  oppression.  We 
also  hope  and  trust  that,  unlike  many  others,  he  will  be  enabled 
to  see  that  argument  and  useful  exertion,  on  the  subject  of 
African  Emancipation,  can  never  be  exhausted  until  the  system 
of  slavery  itself  be  totally  annihilated.  As  well  might  a  luke 
warm  reformer  have  queried  the  Apostle  Paul,  in  his  days, 
relative  to  the  exhausting  of  his  argument,  as  for  a  short-sighted 
philanthropist  to  propound  a  similar  question  respecting  the 
abolition  of  slavery  now." 

"  We  make  the  foregoing  extract,"  rejoined  Mr.  Garri 
son,  in  copying  it  in  the  Journal,  "  for  the  purpose  of 
assuring  the  editor  that  our  zeal  in  the  cause  of  emanci 
pation  suffers  no  diminution.  Before  God  and  our  coun 
try,  we  give  our  pledge  that  the  liberation  of  the  enslaved 
Africans  shall  always  be  uppermost  in  our  pursuits. 
The  people  of  New  England  are  interested  in  this  matter, 
and  they  must  be  aroused  from  their  lethargy  as  by  a 
trumpet-call.  They  shall  not  quietly  slumber  while  we 
have  the  management  of  a  press,  or  strength  to  hold  a 
pen." 

Lundy  was  soon  convinced  by  the  frequency  and 
fervor  of  Mr.  Garrison's  articles  on  slavery,  and  by  his 


CHAP.  v. 

1828-29. 


Table-Talk, 
lines  16-18, 
freely  al 
tered. 


Jour,  of  the 

Times,  Jan 

16,  1829. 


120  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GARRISON.  |>ET.  23-24. 

CHAP.  v.  energy  in  circulating  the  petitions  to  Congress,  that  his 
1828^29.  baptism  in  the  faith  was  complete,  and  he  resolved  to 
invite  him  to  come  to  Baltimore  and  assist  him  in  the 
publication  of  the  Oenius.  So,  taking  his  staff  in  hand, 
he  walked  all  the  way  from  Baltimore  to  Bennington,  to 
lay  his  plans  before  Mr.  Garrison.1  He  proposed  that 
the  Oenius  should  be  enlarged  and  changed  from  a 
monthly  to  a  weekly  paper,  and  that  the  younger  part 
ner  should  be  the  resident  editor,  and  conduct  the  paper 
while  he  (Lundy)  travelled  through  the  country  to  obtain 
subscribers  for  it.  The  appeal  was  successful,  and  Gar 
rison,  accepting  the  call  with  all  the  solemnity  with 
which  Lundy  urged  it  upon  him,  agreed  to  leave  Ben 
nington  at  the  expiration  of  his  engagement  and  prepare 
himself  for  the  new  enterprise. 

Among  his  last  editorials  in  the  Journal  were  two 
vigorous  articles  in  review  of  the  correspondence  which 

Morses  Life  had  just  taken  place  between  President  Adams  and  cer- 
°Adams,      tain  prominent  Federalists  of  Boston,  relative  to  the 

//.  217-220.  imputed  disposition  of  their  party  leaders  to  favor  the 
separation  of  New  England  from  the  rest  of  the  Union 
during  the  years  1808-1814;  the  correspondence  being 
copied  in  full  in  the  Journal.  The  articles  are  note 
worthy  only  as  showing  that  his  interest  in  the  old  feuds 
of  the  Federal  party  had  by  no  means  died  out,  for  he 
now  warmly  sustained  the  cause  of  the  Boston  gentlemen 
against  the  more  or  less  well-founded  accusations  of  the 
retiring  President. 

The  number  for  March  27,  1829,  completed  the  sixth 
month  of  the  Journal,  and  the  editor's  "  Valediction " 
appeared  in  it  without  previous  note  or  intimation  of  any 
kind  as  to  his  intended  retirement.  We  give  it  in  full : 

1  The  precise  date* of  Lundy's  visit  to  Bennington  cannot  be  deter 
mined,  nor  is  it  of  consequence ;  but  that  given  in  Lundy's  Life  (Novem 
ber,  1828)  is  clearly  wrong,  and  the  volume  is  generally  untrustworthy  as  to 
dates.  So  far  as  can  be  judged  from  Lundy's  letters  in  the  Journal  of  the 
Times,  and  from  other  evidence,  the  visit  was  probably  made  early  in  1829. 
The  publication  of  the  Genius  was  suspended,  with  the  issue  of  January  3, 
1829,  for  eight  months. 


2ET.  23-24.]  BENNINGTON.  121 

"  Hereafter  the  editorial  charge  of  this  paper  will  devolve  on     CHAP.  V. 
another  -person.    I  am  invited  to  occupy  a  broader  field,  and 
to  engage  in  a  higher  enterprise :  that  field  embraces  the  whole 
country  —  that  enterprise  is  in  behalf  of  the  slave  population. 

"  To  my  apprehension,  the  subject  of  slavery  involves  inter 
ests  of  greater  moment  to  our  welfare  as  a  republic,  and 
demands  a  more  prudent  and  minute  investigation,  than  any 
other  which  has  come  before  the  American  people  since  the 
Revolutionary  struggle — than  all  others  which  now  occupy 
their  attention.  No  body  of  men,  on  the  face  of  the  earth, 
deserve  their  charities,  and  prayers,  and  united  assistance,  so 
much  as  the  slaves  of  this  country ;  and  yet  they  are  almost 
entirely  neglected.  It  is  true,  many  a  cheek  burns  with  shame 
in  view  of  our  national  inconsistency,  and  many  a  heart  bleeds 
for  the  miserable  African ;  it  is  true,  examples  of  disinterested 
benevolence  and  individual  sacrifices  are  numerous,  particu 
larly  in  the  Southern  States  ;  but  no  systematic,  vigorous  and 
successful  measures  have  been  made  to  overthrow  this  fabric  of 
oppression.  I  trust  in  God  that  I  may  be  the  humble  instru 
ment  of  breaking  at  least  one  chain,  and  restoring  one  captive 
to  liberty  :  it  will  amply  repay  a  life  of  severe  toil. 

"  It  has  been  my  aim  to  make  the  Journal  of  the  Times 
actively  philanthropic  and  uniformly  virtuous;  neither  to 
lessen  its  dignity  by  vain  trifling  and  coarse  witticism,  nor  to 
impair  its  interest  by  a  needless  austerity  of  tone  and  blind 
inaptitude  of  matter ;  but  rather  to  judiciously  blend  innocent 
amusement  with  excellent  instruction.  I  have  endeavored  to 
maintain  a  motto  which  is  superior  to  the  prevailing  errors 
and  mischievous  maxims  of  the  age.  REASON  HAS  PREVAILED 
WITH  ME  MORE  THAN  POPULAR  OPINION.  In  portraying  the 
criminality  and  disastrous  tendency  of  War  —  in  exposing  the 
complicated  evils  of  Intemperance,  and  advocating  the  prin 
ciple  of  entire  abstinence — in  denying  the  justice  and  lawful 
ness  of  Slavery — in  defending  the  Sabbath  from  a  violation  by 
law  —  the  weight  of  public  sentiment  has  been  against  me. 
This  nation  is  not  eminently  pacific  in  its  principles — the 
recent  triumph  of  the  sword  over  the  pen  gives  clear  demon-  Gen.  Jack- 
stration  of  this  fact.  It  is  not  sober  in  its  habits — and  proofs 
are  multiplied  all  over  the  land,  in  every  city,  town  and  village, 
in  every  accidental  gathering  of  large  bodies  of  men  together, 
and  in  almost  every  family.  It  is  not  willing  to  abandon  its 
traffic  in  human  flesh — or  the  foul  blemish  upon  its  reputation 
would  no  longer  remain, — an  immense  shadow  covering  the 


122  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKKISON.  |>£T.  23-24. 

CHAP.  V.     sunlight  of  our  fame.     It  is  not  virtuous  in  its  practices—  or 
1828-2        ^Qe  Sabbath  would  be  respected  by  its  officers  and  represen 
tatives. 

"  I  look  upon  the  station  of  an  editor  as  a  proud  and  respon 
sible  one.  It  should  never  be  filled  by  a  political  adventurer 
or  a  loose  moralist.  It  is  not  beneath  the  dignity  of  the  high 
est  and  most  gifted  man  among  us.  For  many  years,  indeed, 
its  reputation  has  been  sullied  by  the  conduct,  character,  and 
principles  of  many  who  have  aspired  to  fill  it  ;  but  a  new  race 
of  editors,  with  better  qualifications  and  nobler  views,  are 
entering  the  ranks.  The  rapid  growth  of  public  intelligence 
demands  a  corresponding  improvement  of  the  press.  An  idle 
or  lethargic  conductor  of  a  newspaper  is  a  dead  weight  upon 
community.  Men  of  industry  are  wanted,  who  will  sustain 
every  moral  enterprise,  and  diffuse  a  healthful  influence  far 
and  wide,  and  fearlessly  maintain  the  truth. 

"  The  first  number  of  this  paper  was  issued  without  a  sub 
scriber  or  the  previous  circulation  of  any  prospectus.  It  has 
now  completed  six  months  of  its  existence.  Its  patronage  is 
very  respectable,  and  accessions  to  the  subscription  list  are 
made  weekly.  Whatever  may  have  been  its  faults  or  merits, 
no  pains  will  hereafter  be  spared  to  make  it  worthy  of  a  wide 
circulation.  I  recommend  its  industrious  and  enterprising  pro 
prietor  to  the  substantial  encouragement  of  a  generous  people.1 

"  My  task  is  done.  In  all  my  efforts,  I  have  sought  the 
approbation  of  the  wise  and  good.  Whether  it  has  been  won 
or  lost,  my  conscience  is  satisfied. 

LLOYD  GARRISON." 


The  last  act  of  the  retiring  editor  was  to  commend  to 
his  readers  the  speech  made  by  Henry  Clay  at  a  dinner 
given  him  in  Washington  on  the  termination  of  his 
service  as  Secretary  of  State,  in  which  he  had  reflected 
severely  on  the  incoming  President.  "  Henry  Clay/7  he 
declared,  "  at  this  moment  stands  on  a  higher  eminence 
than  he  ever  before  occupied.  His  attitude  is  sublime  — 
his  front  undaunted  —  his  spirit  unsubdued.  It  is  im 
possible  to  read  his  noble  speech  without  mingled  emo 
tions  of  pride,  indignation,  reverence,  and  delight."  And 
he  thereupon  proceeded  to  nominate  him  as  a  candidate 

l  The  Journal  of  tine  Times  survived  Mr.  Garrison's  departure  only  three 
months,  No.  38  being  the  last  one  issued. 


JET.  23-24.]  BENNINGTON.  123 

for  the   next  Presidential  term,   saying,   "  We  believe     CHAP.  v. 
nothing  but  death  can  prevent  his  election."  1828^29. 

The  Gazette  was  of  course  exultant  over  the  departure 
of  the  rival  editor,  and  the  labors  of  "  My  Lloyd  Garri 
son  "  were  reviewed  in  a  satirical  communication  signed 
"  A  Yankee."  l  "  Lest  unworthy  motives  should  be  at 
tributed  to  us,"  said  the  writer,  "  we  think  proper  to  de 
clare  beforehand  our  high  admiration  of  his  talents,  and 
entire  confidence  in  his  integrity  and  patriotism."  And 
then  followed  this  bit  of  description  : 

"  My  Lloyd  is  a  young  man,  and  an  immigrant  from  the  Vt.  Gazette, 
1  Bay  State.'  A  pair  of  silver-mounted  spectacles  ride  elegantly  Sa^*' 
across  his  nose,  and  his  figure  and  appearance  are  not  unlike 
'that  of  a  dandy.  He  is,  withal,  a  great  egotist,  and,  when  talk 
ing  of  himself,  displays  the  pert  loquacity  of  a  blue-jay.  .  .  . 
In  regard  to  the  affairs  of  the  world,  My  Lloyd  labors  under  a 
strange  delusion,  insomuch  that  he  has  taken  upon  himself  to 
abolish  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  reform  the  judi 
ciary  and  militia  of  the  State,  and  last,  though  not  least,  to  im 
part  the  graces  of  a  Boston  dandy  to  the  unpolished  natives  of 
our  happy  State." 

These  parting  gibes  elicited  no  more  attention  from 
their  subject  than  had  others  which  appeared  earlier, 
accusing  him  of  coming  to  breed  strife  in  Bennington, 
and  styling  him  "Lloyd  Garrulous";  and  as  soon  as  he 
could  close  up  his  affairs  he  started  for  Boston.2 

Arrived  there  (in  April,  1829),  he  again  went  to  Mr. 
Collier's  boarding-house  to  remain  awhile,  Lundy  having 
meanwhile  gone  to  Hayti  with  twelve  emancipated  slaves 
from  Maryland,  who  had  been  entrusted  to  him  for  trans 
portation  to  and  settlement  in  that  country. 

1  It  was  written  by  John  S.  Robinson,  who  became  Governor  of  Vermont 
in  1853, — the  only  Democratic  Governor  the  State  ever  had. 

2  The  route  in  those  days  was  by  stage  to  Brattleboro',  thence  down  the 
Connecticut  valley  to  Greenfield,  and  thence  by  way  of  Worcester  to 
Boston;   and  the  journey  on  this  occasion  was  an  unusually  severe  and 
difficult  one,  owing  to  the  deep  drifts  which  still  remained  from  a  tremen 
dous  snow-storm  that  had  covered  all  New  England  and  the  Middle  States 
several  feet  deep  the  previous  month.    The  stage  ride  to  Brattleboro'  occu 
pied  the  first  day,  and  the  horses  broke  through  the  snow  and  fell  so  many 
times  that  they  became  terrified  and  exhausted. 


124  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKKISON.  [^T.  2S-24. 


CHAP.  v.  The  Philanthropist  was  now  edited,  and  ably  edited,  by 
1828^29.  William  Goodell  (who  had  removed  from  Providence  to 
Boston  in  order  to  merge  his  Investigator  with  it),  and  was 
printed  by  James  Brown  Yerrinton.1  Mr.  Goodell  had 
become  thoroughly  aroused  on  the  slavery  question,  and 
he  and  Mr.  Garrison  took  many  a  walk  together  on 
Boston  Common,  discussing  anti-slavery  projects.  They 
also  called  upon  a  number  of  prominent  ministers  to 
secure  their  cooperation  in  the  cause,  and  were  sanguine 
in  their  expectations  of  important  assistance  from  them.2 
In  June,  Mr.  Garrison  accepted  an  invitation  from  the 
Congregational  societies  of  the  city  to  deliver  a  Fourth 
of  July  address  at  Park-  Street  Church,  in  the  interests  of 
the  Colonization  Society,  and  announced  as  his  theme, 
"  Dangers  to  the  Nation.'7  Ten  days  before  the  Fourth  a 
malicious  attempt  to  annoy  and  embarrass  him  was  made, 
which  he  described  in  the  following  letter  to  a  friend  in 
Newburyport  : 

W.  L.  Garrison  to  Jacob  fforton.3 

BOSTON,  Saturday,  June  27,  1829. 

MS.,  now 

(1885)  infos-       MY  DEAR  JACOB:  I  am  very  reluctantly  obliged  to  solicit  a 
ThoSs°M°afckt   favor  of  y°u>  which,  if  granted,  shall  be  cancelled  in  a  few 
Boston.       weeks. 

On  Wednesday,  the  clerk  of  a  militia  company,  (a  poor, 
worthless  scamp,)  presented  a  bill  of  $4,  for  failure  of  appear 
ance  on  May  muster,  and  at  the  choice  of  officers.  The  fact 
is,  I  had  been  in  the  city  but  a  fortnight,  from  my  Vermont 
residence,  when  the  notification  came  ;  and,  as  I  expected  to 
leave  in  a  very  short  time,  I  neglected  to  get  a  certificate  of  my 
incapacity  to  train  on  account  of  short-sightedness.  Moreover, 

1  Afterwards  (1841-1865)  the  printer  of  the  Liberate. 

2  See  Fourth  Annual  Report  Mass.  A.  S.  Society,  1836,  p.  57,  and  GoodelPs 
'  Slavery  and  Anti-Slavery,'  p.  401.     The  Philanthropist  and  Investigator 
was  temporarily  suspended  at  the  end  of  August,  1829,  for  want  of  funds. 
Two  months  later  its  publication  was  resumed,  the  Genius  of  Temperance 
having  been  united  with  it,  and  in  July  of  the  following  year  it  was  re 
moved  to  New  York  ;  but  after  a  time  Mr.  Goodell  was  compelled  to  relin 
quish  the  publication,  owing  to  inadequate  support. 

3  Mr.  Horton  had  married  Mr.  Garrison's  old  friend  and  playmate,  Har 
riet  Farnham. 


MT.  23-24.J  BENNINGTON.  125 

though  I  have  been  repeatedly  warned  since  I  first  came  to  the     CHAP.  v. 
city  in  1826,  yet  never,  until  now,  have  I  been  called  upon  to 
pay  a  fine,  or  to  give  any  reasons  for  my  non-appearance  j  and 
I  therefore  concluded  that  I  should  again  be  let  alone. 

I  told  the  fellow  the  circumstances  of  the  case  —  that  I  had 
never  trained  —  that  my  sight  had  always  excused  me  —  and 
that,  in  fine,  I  should  not  pay  his  bill.  He  wished  me  a  "  good 
morning,"  and  in  the  course  of  the  day  sent  a  writ  by  the  hands 
of  a  constable,  charging  me  to  appear  at  the  Police  Court 
on  the  4th  of  July,  and  shew  cause  why  I  refused  to  pay  the 
fine  !  Of  course,  there  is  no  alternative  but  to  "  shell  out,"  or 
to  fee  a  lawyer  to  get  me  clear,  which  would  be  no  saving  in 
expense. 

The  writ  and  fine  will  be  $5  or  $6.  I  have  not  a  farthing  by 
me,  and  I  shall  need  a  trifle  for  the  4th.  Can  you  make  it 
convenient  to  loan  me  $8,  for  two  or  three  weeks  ?  I  am 
pained  to  make  this  request,  but  my  present  dilemma  is 
unpleasant.1 

My  address,  for  the  Fourth,  is  almost  completed  ;  and,  on  the 
whole,  I  am  tolerably  well  satisfied  with  the  composition.  The 
delivery  will  occupy  me,  probably,  a  little  over  an  hour  —  too 
long,  to  be  sure,  for  the  patience  of  the  audience,  but  not  for 
the  subject.  I  cannot  condense  it.  Its  complexion  is  sombre, 
and  its  animadversions  severe.  I  think  it  will  offend  some, 
though  not  reasonably.  The  assembly  bids  fair  to  be  over 
whelming.  My  very  knees  knock  together  at  the  thought  of 
speaking  before  so  large  a  concourse.  What,  then,  will  be  my 
feelings  in  the  pulpit  1 

The  public  expectation,  I  find,  is  great.  I  am  certain  it 
will  be  disappointed ;  but  I  shall  do  my  best.  You  shall  know 
the  result. 

Rev.  Mr.  Pierpont  honored  me  with  a  visit  a  few  days  since. 
He  is  an  accomplished  man,  and  his  friendship  worth  cultivat 
ing.  He  has  promised  to  give  [me]  an  original  ode  for  that 
day ;  and  says  he  shall  take  a  seat  in  some  corner  of  Park- 

IMr.  Garrison  also  gave  an  account  of  this  experience  in  the  Genius  of 
Universal  Emancipation  of  Sept.  16,  1829  (p.  14),  with  the  following  declara 
tion  of  principles :  "I  am  not  professedly  a  Quaker ;  but  I  heartily,  entirely 
and  practically  embrace  the  doctrine  of  non-resistance,  and  am  conscien 
tiously  opposed  to  all  military  exhibitions.  I  now  solemnly  declare  that  I 
will  never  obey  any  order  to  bear  arms,  but  rather  cheerfully  suffer  im 
prisonment  and  persecution.  What  is  the  design  of  militia  musters  ?  To 
make  men  skilful  murderers.  I  cannot  consent  to  become  a  pupil  in  this 
sanguinary  school." 


126 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON. 


.  23-24. 


CHAP.  V. 

1828-29. 


No.  798  in 
Adams  and 

Chapiris 
Hymns  for 

Christian 
Devotion, 


street  Church  to  hear  the  address — a  thing  that  he  has  not  done 
for  many  years. 

I  expect  to  get  a  journeyman's  berth  immediately  after  the 
4th ;  but,  if  I  do  not,  I  shall  take  the  stage  for  Newburyport, 
and  dig  on  at  the  case  for  Mr.  Allen.  I  am  somewhat  in  a 
hobble,  in  a  pecuniary  point  of  view,  and  must  work  like  a 
tiger.  My  fingers  have  not  lost  their  nimbleness,  and  my  pride 
I  have  sent  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Mecca. 

By  answering  this  on  Tuesday,  by  the  driver,  you  will  confer 
another  obligation  on 

Yours,  with  much  affection, 

WM.  LLOYD  GARRISON. 

EF"  Direct  to  me  at  No.  30,  Federal-st.,  Boston. 

It  is  to  be  presumed  that  the  desired  loan  was  promptly 
made,  for  at  four  o'clock  on  the  afternoon  of  July  4,  Mr. 
Garrison  rose  to  address  an  audience  which  filled  Park- 
Street  Church  and  included  Whittier,  Goodell,  and  John 
Pierpont,  whose  spirited  hymn  ("With  thy  pure  dews 
and  rains")  was  ready  for  the  occasion.  It  was  sung  now 
under  the  direction  of  Lowell  Mason ;  and  was  heard 
afterwards  at  many  an  anti-slavery  meeting  during  the 
thirty  years'  conflict,  besides  being  included  in  some 
church  hymnals,  in  which  the  following  stinging  verses 
must  have  made  it  especially  serviceable  and  effective  : 

"  Hearest  thou,  0  God,  those  chains, 
Clanking  on  Freedom's  plains, 

By  Christians  wrought! 
Them  who  those  chains  have  worn, 
Christians  from  home  have  torn, 
Christians  have  hither  borne, 
Christians  have  bought ! 

"  Cast  down,  great  God,  the  fanes 
That,  to  unhallowed  gains, 

Round  us  have  risen  — 
Temples  whose  priesthood  pore 
Moses  and  Jesus  o'er, 
Then  bolt  the  black  man's  door, 

The  poor  man's  prison  ! " 


.  23-24.] 


BENNINGTON. 


127 


182829. 


Nat.  Phi- 


^Selections 
from  the 

w^L^G 
PP 


Mr.  Garrison's  Address,  which  must  have  occupied  CHAP.  v. 
considerably  more  than  an  hour  in  delivery,  was  sub- 
sequently  printed  in  the  National  Philanthropist  and 
Investigator  of  July  22  and  29,  and  has  thus  been  pre 
served  to  show  the  fulness  and  maturity  of  the  orator's 
powers  in  this,  his  twenty-fourth  year,  and  his  thorough 
moral  and  intellectual  equipment  for  the  warfare  upon 
which  he  now  deliberately  entered.  Its  importance  in 
this  view  must  justify  the  considerable  extracts  from  it 
which  are  here  given,  beginning  with  his  opening  sen 
tences  : 

"  It  is  natural  that  the  return  of  a  day  which  established  the 
liberties  of  a  brave  people  should  be  hailed  by  them  with  more 
than  ordinary  joy  j  and  it  is  their  duty  as  Christians  and  pa-    gator,  July 
triots  to  celebrate  it  with  signal  tokens  of  thanksgiving. 

"  Fifty-three  years  ago,  the  Fourth  of  July  was  a  proud  day 
for  our  country.  It  clearly  and  accurately  denned  the  rights  of 
man  ;  it  made  no  vulgar  alterations  in  the  established  usages  of 
society  ;  it  presented  a  revelation  adapted  to  the  common  sense 
of  mankind  ;  it  vindicated  the  omnipotence  of  public  opinion 
over  the  machinery  of  kingly  government  ;  it  shook,  as  with 
the  voice  of  a  great  earthquake,  thrones  which  were  seemingly 
propped  up  with  Atlantean  pillars  ;  it  gave  an  impulse  to  the 
heart  of  the  world,  which  yet  thrills  to  its  extremities." 

The  orator  then  proceeded  to  speak  of  the  degeneracy 
of  the  national  jubilee,  from  an  occasion  distinguished 
for  rationality  of  feeling  and  purity  of  purpose  to  a  day 
marked  by  reckless  and  profligate  behavior,  vain  boast 
ing,  and  the  foolish  assumption  that  no  dangers  could 
ever  assail  or  threaten  the  republic.  To  him  the  preva 
lence  of  infidelity  ,  the  compulsory  desecration  of  the 
"  holy  Sabbath,"  the  ravages  of  intemperance,  the  profli 
gacy  of  the  press,  the  corruptness  of  party  politics,  were 
all  sources  of  danger  and  causes  for  alarm  ;  and  he 
briefly  considered  them  before  he  took  up  slavery,  the 
main  theme  of  his  discourse.  His  words  relating  to 
political  corruption  are  neither  trite  nor  inapt  now  : 

"  I  speak  not  as  a  partisan  or  an  opponent  of  any  man  or 
measures,  when  I  say,  that  our  politics  are  rotten  to  the  core. 


128  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKKISON.  [^T.  23-24. 


CHAP.  V.  We  boast  of  our  freedom,  who  go  shackled  to  the  polls,  year 
1828^2  after  year,  by  tens,  and  hundreds,  and  thousands  !  We  talk  of 
free  agency,  who  are  the  veriest  machines  —  the  merest  autom 
ata  —  in  the  hands  of  unprincipled  jugglers!  We  prate  of 
integrity,  and  virtue,  and  independence,  who  sell  our  birth 
right  for  office,  and  who,  nine  times  in  ten,  do  not  get  Esau's 
bargain  —  no,  not  even  a  mess  of  pottage  !  Is  it  republicanism 
to  say,  that  the  majority  can  do  no  wrong?  Then  I  am  not  a 
republican.  Is  it  aristocracy  to  say,  that  the  people  some 
times  shamefully  abuse  their  high  trust  ?  Then  I  am  an  aristo 
crat.  It  is  not  the  appreciation,  but  the  abuse  of  liberty,  to 
withdraw  altogether  from  the  polls,  or  to  visit  them  merely  as 
a  matter  of  form,  without  carefully  investigating  the  merits  of 
candidates.  The  republic  does  not  bear  a  charmed  life  :  our 
prescriptions  administered  through  the  medium  of  the  ballot- 
box  —  the  mouth  of  the  political  body  —  may  kill  or  cure, 
according  to  the  nature  of  the  disease  and  our  wisdom  in 
applying  the  remedy.  It  is  possible  that  a  people  may  bear 
the  title  of  freemen  who  execute  the  work  of  slaves.  To  the 
dullest  observers  of  the  signs  of  the  times,  it  must  be  apparent 
that  we  are  rapidly  approximating  to  this  condition.  .  .  . 

"  But  there  is  another  evil,  which,  if  we  had  to  contend 
against  nothing  else,  should  make  us  quake  for  the  issue.  It  is 
a  gangrene  preying  upon  our  vitals  —  an  earthquake  rumbling 
under  our  feet  —  a  mine  accumulating  materials  for  a  national 
catastrophe.  It  should  make  this  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer, 
not  of  boisterous  merriment  and  idle  pageantry  —  a  day  of 
great  lamentation,  not  of  congratulatory  joy.  It  should  spike 
every  cannon,  and  haul  down  every  banner.  Our  garb  should 
be  sackcloth  —  our  heads  bo  wed  in  the  dust  —  our  supplications, 
for  the  pardon  and  assistance  of  Heaven. 

"  Last  week  this  city  was  made  breathless  by  a  trial  of  con 
siderable  magnitude.  The  court  chamber  was  inundated  for 
hours,  day  after  day,  with  a  dense  and  living  tide  which  swept 
along  like  the  rush  of  a  mountain  torrent.  Tiers  of  human 
bodies  were  piled  up  to  the  walls,  with  almost  miraculous  con 
densation  and  ingenuity.  It  seemed  as  if  men  abhorred  a 
vacuum  equally  with  Nature  :  they  would  suspend  themselves, 
as  it  were,  by  a  nail,  and  stand  upon  air  with  the  aid  of  a  peg. 
Although  it  was  a  barren,  ineloquent  subject,  and  the  crowd 
immense,  there  was  no  perceptible  want  of  interest  —  no  evi 
dence  of  impatience.  The  cause  was  important,  involving  the 
reputation  of  a  distinguished  citizen.  There  was  a  struggle  for 


^ET.  23-24.]  BENNINGTON.  129 

mastery  between  two  giants  —  a  test   of  strength  in  tossing     CHAP.  V. 
mountains  of  law.     The  excitement  was  natural.1  1828^29 

"  I  stand  up  here  in  a  more  solemn  court,  to  assist  in  a  far 
greater  cause  5  not  to  impeach  the  character  of  one  man,  but  of 
a  whole  people  ;  not  to  recover  the  sum  of  a  hundred  thousand 
dollars,  but  to  obtain  the  liberation  of  two  millions  of  wretched, 
degraded  beings,  who  are  pining  in  hopeless  bondage  —  over 
whose  sufferings  scarcely  an  eye  weeps,  or  a  heart  melts,  or  a 
tongue  pleads  either  to  God  or  man.  I  regret  that  a  better  ad 
vocate  had  not  been  found,  to  enchain  your  attention  and  to 
warm  your  blood.  Whatever  fallacy,  however,  may  appear  in 
the  argument,  there  is  no  flaw  in  the  indictment;  what  the 
speaker  lacks,  the  cause  will  supply. 

"  Sirs,  I  am  not  come  to  tell  you  that  slavery  is  a  curse,  de 
basing  in  its  effect,  cruel  in  its  operation,  fatal  in  its  continu 
ance.  The  day  and  the  occasion  require  no  such  revelation.  I 
do  not  claim  the  discovery  as  my  own,  that  *  all  men  are  born 
equal,'  and  that  among  their  inalienable  rights  are '  life,  liberty, 
and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.'  Were  I  addressing  any  other 
than  a  free  and  Christian  assembly,  the  enforcement  of  this 
truth  might  be  pertinent.  Neither  do  I  intend  to  analyze  the 
horrors  of  slavery  for  your  inspection,  nor  to  freeze  your  blood 
with  authentic  recitals  of  savage  cruelty.  Nor  will  time  allow 
me  to  explore  even  a  furlong  of  that  immense  wilderness  of 
suffering  which  remains  unsubdued  in  oar  land.  I  take  it  for 
granted  that  the  existence  of  these  evils  is  acknowledged,  if  not 
rightly  understood.  My  object  is  to  define  and  enforce  our  duty, 
as  Christians  and  Philanthropists. 

"  On  a  subject  so  exhaustless,  it  will  be  impossible,  in  the 
moiety  of  an  address,  to  unfold  all  the  facts  which  are  necessary 
to  its  full  development.  In  view  of  it,  my  heart  swells  up  like 
a  living  fountain,  which  time  cannot  exhaust,  for  it  is  perpetual. 
Let  this  be  considered  as  the  preface  of  a  noble  work,  which 
your  inventive  sympathies  must  elaborate  and  complete. 

"  I  assume  as  distinct  and  defensible  propositions, 

"  I.  That  the  slaves  of  this  country,  whether  we  consider 
their  moral,* intellectual  or  social  condition,  are  preeminently 
entitled  to  the  prayers,  and  sympathies,  and  charities,  of  the 

l  The  case  was  that  of  Farnum,  Executor  of  Tuttle  Hubbard,  vs.  Brooks, 
and  was  heard  in  the  Mass.  Supreme  Court.  The  "  two  giants"  in  opposi 
tion  were  William  Wirt,  ex-Attorney-General  of  the  United  States,  and 
Daniel  Webster.  Wirt's  eloquence  made  a  great  impression.  (Boston 
Traveller,  June  23,  30,  1829 ;  Columbian  Centinel,  June  27. ) 

VOL.  I.— 9 


130  ;  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON.  [^T.  23-24. 


CHAP.  V.  American  people  j  and  their  claims  for  redress  are  as  strong  as 
1828^2  those  of  any  Americans  could  be  in  a  similar  condition. 

"  II.  That,  as  the  free  States  —  by  which  I  mean  non-slave- 
holding  States  —  are  constitutionally  involved  in  the  guilt  of 
slavery,  by  adhering  to  a  national  compact  that  sanctions  it  ,• 
and  hi  the  danger,  by  liability  to  be  called  upon  for  aid  in  case 
of  insurrection  ;  they  have  the  right  to  remonstrate  against  its 
continuance,  and  it  is  their  duty  to  assist  in  its  overthrow. 

"  III.  That  no  justificative  plea  for  the  perpetuity  of  slavery 
can  be  found  in  the  condition  of  its  victims  ;  and  no  barrier 
against  our  righteous  interference,  in  the  laws  which  authorize 
the  buying,  selling  and  possessing  of  slaves,  nor  in  the  hazard 
of  a  collision  with  slaveholders. 

"IV.  That  education  and  freedom  will  elevate  our  colored 
population  to  a  rank  with  the  white  —  making  them  useful, 
intelligent  and  peaceable  citizens. 

"  In  the  first  place,  it  will  be  readily  admitted,  that  it  is  the 
duty  of  every  nation  primarily  to  administer  relief  to  its  own 
necessities,  to  cure  its  own  maladies,  to  instruct  its  own  chil 
dren,  and  to  watch  over  its  own  interests.  He  is  '  worse  than 
an  infidel  '  who  neglects  his  own  household,  and  squanders  his 
earnings  upon  strangers  ;  and  the  policy  of  that  nation  is  un 
wise  which  seeks  to  proselyte  other  portions  of  the  globe  at  the 
expense  of  its  safety  and  happiness.  Let  me  not  be  misunder 
stood.  My  benevolence  is  neither  contracted  nor  selfish.  I 
pity  that  man  whose  heart  is  not  larger  than  a  whole  continent. 
I  despise  the  littleness  of  that  patriotism  which  blusters  only 
for  its  own  rights,  and,  stretched  to  its  utmost  dimensions, 
scarcely  covers  its  native  territory  ;  which  adopts  as  its  creed 
the  right  to  act  independently,  even  to  the  verge  of  licentious 
ness,  without  restraint,  and  to  tyrannize  wherever  it  can  with 
impunity.  This  sort  of  patriotism  is  common.  I  suspect  the 
reality,  and  deny  the  productiveness,  of  that  piety  which  con 
fines  its  operations  to  a  particular  spot  —  if  that  spot  be  less 
than  the  whole  earth  ;  nor  scoops  out,  in  every  direction,  new 
channels  for  the  waters  of  life.  Christian  charity,  while  it 
1  begins  at  home,'  goes  abroad  in  search  of  misery.  It  is  as 
copious  as  the  sun  in  heaven.  It  does  not,  like  the  Nile,  make 
a  partial  inundation,  and  then  withdraw;  but  it  perpetually 
overflows,  and  fertilizes  every  barren  spot.  It  is  restricted  only 
by  the  exact  number  of  God's  suffering  creatures.  But  I  mean 
to  say,  that,  while  we  are  aiding  and  instructing  foreigners,  we 
ought  not  to  forget  our  own  degraded  countrymen  ;  that  neither 


^Sx.  23-24.  J  BENNINGTON.  131 

duty  nor  honesty  requires  us  to  defraud  ourselves  that  we  may     CHAP.  V. 
enrich  others.  1828^29. 

"  The  condition  of  the  slaves,  in  a  religious  point  of  view,  is 
deplorable,  entitling  them  to  a  higher  consideration,  on  our 
part,  than  any  other  race  j  higher  than  the  Turks  or  Chinese, 
for  they  have  the  privileges  of  instruction ;  higher  than  the 
Pagans,  for  they  are  not  dwellers  in  a  gospel  land ;  higher  than 
our  red  men  of  the  forest,  for  we  do  not  bind  them  with  gyves, 
nor  treat  them  as  chattels. 

"  And  here  let  me  ask,  What  has  Christianity  done,  by  direct 
effort,  for  our  slave  population  ?  Comparatively  nothing.  She 
has^xplored  the  isles  of  the  ocean  for  objects  of  commiseration; 
but,  amazing  stupidity!  she  can  gaze  without  emotion  on  a 
multitude  of  miserable  beings  at  home,  large  enough  to  consti 
tute  a  nation  of  freemen,  whom  tyranny  has  heathenized  by 
law.  In  her  public  services  they  are  seldom  remembered,  and 
in  her  private  donations  they  are  forgotten.  From  one  end  of 
the  country  to  the  other,  her  charitable  societies  form  golden 
links  of  benevolence,  and  scatter  their  contributions  like  rain 
drops  over  a  parched  heath  j  but  they  bring  no  sustenance  to 
the  perishing  slave.  The  blood  of  souls  is  upon  her  garments, 
yet  she  heeds  not  the  stain.  The  clankings  of  the  prisoner's 
chains  strike  upon  her  ear,  but  they  cannot  penetrate  her  heart. 

"  I  have  said  that  the  claims  of  the  slaves  for  redress  are  as 
strong  as  those  of  any  Americans  could  be,  in  a  similar  condi 
tion.  Does  any  man  deny  the  position  ?  The  proof,  then,  is 
found  in  the  fact,  that  a  very  large  proportion  of  our  colored 
population  were  born  011  our  soil,  and  are  therefore  entitled  to 
all  the  privileges  of  American  citizens.  This  is  their  country 
by  birth,  not  by  adoption.  Their  children  possess  the  same  in 
herent  and  unalienable  rights  as  ours,  and  it  is  a  crime  of  the 
blackest  dye  to  load  them  with  fetters. 

"  Every  Fourth  of  July,  our  Declaration  of  Independence  is 
produced,  with  a  sublime  indignation,  to  set  forth  the  tyranny 
of  the  mother  country,  and  to  challenge  the  admiration  of  the 
world.  But  what  a  pitiful  detail  of  grievances  does  this  docu 
ment  present,  in  comparison  with  the  wrongs  which  our  slaves 
endure !  In  the  one  case,  it  is  hardly  the  plucking  of  a  hair 
from  the  head ;  in  the  other,  it  is  the  crushing  of  a  live  body  on 
the  wheel — the  stings  of  the  wasp  contrasted  with  the  tortures 
of  the  Inquisition.  Before  God,  I  must  say,  that  such  a  glaring 
contradiction  as  exists  between  our  creed  and  practice  the 
annals  of  six  thousand  years  cannot  parallel.  In  view  of  it,  I 


132 


WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON. 


.  23-24. 


CHAP.  V. 

1828-29. 


Nat.Philan. 

andlnvesti- 

gator,  July 

29,  1829." 


am  ashamed  of  my  country.  I  am  sick  of  our  unmeaning  decla 
mation  in  praise  of  liberty  and  equality ;  of  our  hypocritical  cant 
about  the  unalienable  rights  of  man.  I  could  not,  for  my  right 
hand,  stand  up  before  a  European  assembly,  and  exult  that  I 
am  an  American  citizen,  and  denounce  the  usurpations  of  a 
kingly  government  as  wicked  and  unjust ;  or,  should  I  make 
the  attempt,  the  recollection  of  my  country's  barbarity  and  des 
potism  would  blister  my  lips,  and  cover  my  cheeks  with  burning 
blushes  of  shame. 

"  Will  this  be  termed  a  rhetorical  nourish  ?  Will  any  man 
coldly  accuse  me  of  intemperate  zeal  1  I  will  borrow,  then,  a 
ray  of  humanity  from  one  of  the  brightest  stars  in  our  Ame 
rican  galaxy,  whose  light  will  gather  new  effulgence  to  the  end 
of  time.  '  This,  sirs,  is  a  cause  that  would  be  dishonored  and 
betrayed  if  I  contented  myself  with  appealing  only  to  the  un 
derstanding.  It  is  too  cold,  and  its  processes  are  too  slow  for 
the  occasion.  I  desire  to  thank  God  that,  since  he  has  given  me 
an  intellect  so  fallible,  he  has  impressed  upon  me  an  instinct 
that  is  sure.  On  a  question  of  shame  and  honor  —  liberty  and 
oppression  —  reasoning  is  sometimes  useless,  and  worse.  I  feel 
the  decision  in  my  pulse  :  if  it  throws  no  light  upon  the  brain, 
it  kindles  a  fire  at  the  heart.'  .  .  . 

"  I  come  to  my  second  proposition  :  —  the  right  of  the  free 
States  to  remonstrate  against  the  continuance,  and  to  assist  in 
the  overthrow  of  slavery. 

"  This,  I  am  aware,  is  a  delicate  subject,  surrounded  with 
many  formidable  difficulties.  But  if  delay  only  adds  to  its  in 
tricacy,  wherefore  shun  an  immediate  investigation  1  I  know 
that  we,  of  the  North,  affectedly  believe  that  we  have  no  local 
interest  in  the  removal  of  this  great  evil ;  that  the  slave  States 
can  take  care  of  themselves,  and  that  any  proffered  assistance, 
on  our  part,  would  be  rejected  as  impertinent,  dictatorial  or 
meddlesome  ;  and  that  we  have  no  right  to  lift  up  even  a  note 
of  remonstrance.  But  I  believe  that  these  opinions  are  crude, 
preposterous,  dishonorable,  unjust.  Sirs,  this  is  a  business  in 
which,  as  members  of  one  great  family,  we  have  a  common  in 
terest  j  but  we  take  no  responsibility,  either  individually  or 
collectively.  Our  hearts  are  cold  —  our  blood  stagnates  in  our 
veins.  We  act,  in  relation  to  the  slaves,  as  if  they  were  some 
thing  lower  than  the  brutes  that  perish. 

"  On  this  question,  I  ask  no  support  from  the  injunction  of 
Holy  Writ,  which  says :  —  *  therefore  all  things  whatsoever  ye 
would  that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye  even  so  to  them  :  for 
this  is  the  law  and  the  prophets.'  I  throw  aside  the  common 


^T.  23-24.]  BENNINGTON.  133 

dictates  of  humanity.  I  assert  the  right  of  the  free  States  to  CHAP.  v. 
demand  a  gradual  abolition  of  slavery,  because,  by  its  continu- 
ance,  they  participate  in  the  guilt  thereof,  and  are  threatened 
with  ultimate  destruction ;  because  they  are  bound  to  watch 
over  the  interests  of  the  whole  country,  without  reference  to 
territorial  divisions;  because  their  white  population  is  nearly 
double  that  of  the  slave  States,  and  the  voice  of  this  overwhelm 
ing  majority  should  be  potential  j  because  they  are  now  deprived 
of  their  just  influence  in  the  councils  of  the  nation ;  because  it 
is  absurd  and  anti-republican  to  suffer  property  to  be  repre 
sented  as  men,  and  vice  versa.1  Because  it  gives  the  South  an 
unjust  ascendancy  over  other  portions  of  territory,  and  a  power 
which  may  be  perverted  on  every  occasion.  .  .  . 

"  Now  I  say  that,  on  the  broad  system  of  equal  rights,  this 
monstrous  inequality  should  no  longer  be  tolerated.  If  it 
cannot  be  speedily  put  down  —  not  by  force,  but  by  fair  per 
suasion  ;  if  we  are  always  to  remain  shackled  by  unjust  Con 
stitutional  provisions,  when  the  emergency  that  imposed  them 
has  long  since  passed  away;  if  we  must  share  in  the  guilt  and 
danger  of  destroying  the  bodies  and  souls  of  men,  as  the  price  of 
our  Union ;  if  the  slave  States  will  haughtily  spurn  our  assist 
ance,  and  refuse  to  consult  the  general  welfare  ;  then  the  fault 
is  not  ours  if  a  separation  eventually  take  place. 

"  It  may  be  objected,  that  the  laws  of  the  slave  States  form 
insurmountable  barriers  to  any  interference  on  our  part. 

"  Answer.  I  grant  that  we  have  not  the  right,  and  I  trust 
not  the  disposition,  to  use  coercive  measures.  But  do  these 
laws  hinder  our  prayers,  or  obstruct  the  flow  of  our  sympathies  ? 
Cannot  our  charities  alleviate  the  condition  of  the  slave,  and 
perhaps  break  his  fetters  °?  Can  we  hot  operate  upon  public 
sentiment,  (the  lever  that  can  move  the  moral  world,)  by  way 
of  remonstrance,  advice,  or  entreaty  ?  Is  Christianity  so  pow 
erful  that  she  can  tame  the  red  men  of  our  forests,  and  abolish 
the  Burman  caste,  and  overthrow  the  gods  of  Paganism,  and 
liberate  lands  over  which  the  darkness  of  Superstition  has  lain 
for  ages  j  and  yet  so  weak,  in  her  own  dwelling-place,  that  she 
can  make  no  impression  upon  her  civil  code  ?  Can  she  contend 
successfully  with  cannibals,  and  yet  be  conquered  by  her  own 
children  ? 

"  Suppose  that,  by  a  miracle,  the  slaves  should  suddenly 
become  white.  Would  you  shut  your  eyes  upon  their  suffer 
ings,  and  calmly  talk  of  Constitutional  limitations  "?  No  j  your 

1  By  the  three-fifths  representation  clause  of  the  Federal  Constitution, 
Art.  L,  Sec.  ii.,  3. 


134  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GABEISON.  [>ET.  23-24. 

CHAP.  V.  voice  would  peal  in  the  ears  of  the  taskmasters  like  deep 
1828^29  thunder ;  you  would  carry  the  Constitution  by  force,  if  it  could 
not  be  taken  by  treaty  ;  patriotic  assemblies  would  congregate 
at  the  corners  of  every  street ;  the  old  Cradle  of  Liberty  would 
rock  to  a  deeper  tone  than  ever  echoed  therein  at  British 
aggression ;  the  pulpit  would  acquire  new  and  unusual  elo 
quence  from  our  holy  religion.  The  argument,  that  these  white 
slaves  are  degraded,  would  not  then  obtain.  You  would  say, 
it  is  enough  that  they  are  white,  and  in  bondage,  and  they 
ought  immediately  to  be  set  free.  You  would  multiply  your 
schools  of  instruction,  and  your  temples  of  worship,  and  rely 
on  them  for  security.  .  .  . 

"  But  the  plea  is  prevalent,  that  any  interference  by  the  free 
States,  however  benevolent  or  cautious  it  might  be,  would  only 
irritate  and  inflame  the  jealousies  of  the  South,  and  retard  the 
cause  of  emancipation.  If  any  man  believes  that  slavery  can 
be  abolished  without  a  struggle  with  the  worst  passions  of 
human  nature,  quietly,  harmoniously,  he  cherishes  a  delusion. 
It  can  never  be  done,  unless  the  age  of  miracles  return.  No  j 
we  must  expect  a  collision,  full  of  sharp  asperities  and  bitter 
ness.  We  shall  have  to  contend  with  the  insolence,  and  pride, 
and  selfishness,  of  many  a  heartless  being.  But  these  can  be 
easily  conquered  by  meekness,  and  perseverance,  and  prayer. 

"  Sirs,  the  prejudices  of  the  North  are  stronger  than  those 
of  the  South; — they  bristle,  like  so  many  bayonets,  around  the 
slaves; — they  forge  and  rivet  the  chains  of  the  nation.  Con 
quer  them,  and  the  victory  is  won.  The  enemies  of  emancipa 
tion  take  courage  from  our  criminal  timidity.  They  have 
justly  stigmatized  us,  even  on  the  floor  of  Congress,  with  the 
most  contemptuous  epithets.  We  are  (they  say)  their  '  white 
slaves,' x  afraid  of  our  own  shadows,  who  have  been  driven  back 
to  the  wall  again  and  again  ;  who  stand  trembling  under  their 
whips ;  who  turn  pale,  retreat,  and  surrender,  at  a  talismanic 
threat  to  dissolve  the  Union.  .  .  . 

"  It  is  often  despondingly  said,  that  the  evil  of  slavery  is  be 
yond  our  control.  Dreadful  conclusion,  that  puts  the  seal  of 
death  upon  our  country's  existence  !  If  we  cannot  conquer  the 
monster  in  his  infancy,  while  his  cartilages  are  tender  and  his 
limbs  powerless,  how  shall  we  escape  his  wrath  when  he  goes 

l  In  Henry  Adams's  'Life  of  John  Randolph'  we  read  (p.  281):  "On 
another  occasion,  he  [Randolph]  is  reported  as  saying  of  the  people  of  the 
North,  'We  do  not  govern  them  by  our  black  slaves,  but  by  their  own  white 
slaves.'" 


Mf.  23-24.]  BENNINGTON.  135 

forth  a  gigantic  cannibal,  seeking  whom  he  may  devour  ?  If  CHAP.  V. 
we  cannot  safely  unloose  two  millions  of  slaves  now,  how  shall 
we  bind  upwards  of  TWENTY  MILLIONS  at  the  close  of  the  pres 
ent  century?  But  there  is  no  cause  for  despair.  We  have 
seen  how  readily,  and  with  what  ease,  that  horrid  gorgon,  In 
temperance,  has  been  checked  in  his  ravages.  Let  us  take 
courage.  Moral  influence,  when  in  vigorous  exercise,  is  irresist 
ible.  It  has  an  immortal  essence.  It  can  no  more  be  trod  out 
of  existence  by  the  iron  foot  of  time,  or  by  the  ponderous  march 
of  iniquity,  than  matter  can  be  annihilated.  It  may  disappear 
for  a  time  ;  but  it  lives  in  some  shape  or  other,  in  some  place 
or  other,  and  will  rise  with  renovated  strength.  Let  us,  then, 
be  up  and  doing.  In  the  simple  and  stirring  language  of  the 
stout-hearted  Lundy,  t  all  the  friends  of  the  cause  must  go  to 
work,  keep  to  work,  hold  on,  and  never  give  up.' 

"  If  it  be  still  objected,  that  it  would  be  dangerous  to  liberate 
the  present  race  of  blacks  ; 

"  I  answer  —  the  emancipation  of  all  the  slaves  of  this  gen 
eration  is  most  assuredly  out  of  the  question.  The  fabric, 
which  now  towers  above  the  Alps,  must  be  taken  away  brick 
by  brick,  and  foot  by  foot,  till  it  is  reduced  so  low  that  it  may 
be  overturned  without  burying  the  nation  in  its  ruins.  Years 
may  elapse  before  the  completion  of  the  achievement ;  genera 
tions  of  blacks  may  go  down  to  the  grave,  manacled  and  lacer 
ated,  without  a  hope  for  their  children  5  the  philanthropists 
who  are  now  pleading  in  behalf  of  the  oppressed,  may  not  live 
to  witness  the  dawn  which  will  precede  the  glorious  day  of 
universal  emancipation ;  but  the  work  will  go  on — laborers  in 
the  cause  will  multiply  —  new  resources  will  be  discovered  — 
the  victory  will  be  obtained,  worth  the  desperate  struggle  of  a 
thousand  years.  Or,  if  defeat  follow,  woe  to  the  safety  of  this 
people  !  The  nation  will  be  shaken  as  if  by  a  mighty  earth 
quake.  A  cry  of  horror,  a  cry  of  revenge,  will  go  up  to  heaven 
in  the  darkness  of  midnight,  and  re-echo  from  every  cloud. 
Blood  will  flow  like  water — the  blood  of  guilty  men,  and  of 
innocent  women  and  children.  Then  will  be  heard  lamenta 
tions  and  weeping,  such  as  will  blot  out  the  remembrance  of 
the  horrors  of  St.  Domingo.  The  terrible  judgments  of  an 
incensed  God  will  complete  the  catastrophe  of  republican 
America. 

"  And  since  so  much  is  to  be  done  for  our  country  ;  since  so 
many  prejudices  are  to  be  dispelled,  obstacles  vanquished,  in 
terests  secured,  blessings  obtained  j  since  the  cause  of  emanci- 


136  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON.  [^T.  23-24. 

CHAP.  V.  pation  must  progress  heavily,  and  meet  with  much  unhallowed 
opposition, —  why  delay  the  work?  There  must  be  a  begin 
ning,  and  now  is  a  propitious  time  —  perhaps  the  last  oppor 
tunity  that  will  be  granted  us  by  a  long-suffering  God.  No 
temporizing,  lukewarm  measures  will  avail  aught.  We  must 
put  our  shoulders  to  the  wheel,  and  heave  with  our  united 
strength.  Let  us  not  look  coldly  on  and  see  our  Southern 
brethren1  contending  single-handed  against  an  all-powerful 
foe  — faint,  weary,  borne  down  to  the  earth.  We  are  all  alike 
guilty.  Slavery  is  strictly  a  national  sin.  New- England  money 
has  been  expended  in  buying  human  flesh  j  New- England 
ships  have  been  freighted  with  sable  victims  j  New-England 
men  have  assisted  in  forging  the  fetters  of  those  who  groan  in 
bondage. 

"  I  call  upon  the  ambassadors  of  Christ  everywhere  to  make 
known  this  proclamation :  t  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God  of  the 
Africans,  Let  this  people  go,  that  they  may  serve  me.'  I  ask 
them  to  '  proclaim  liberty  to  the  captives,  and  the  opening  of 
the  prison  to  them  that  are  bound' — to  light  up  a  flame  of 
philanthropy  that  shall  burn  till  all  Africa  be  redeemed  from 
the  night  of  moral  death,  and  the  song  of  deliverance  be  heard 
throughout  her  borders. 

"  I  call  upon  the  churches  of  the  living  God  to  lead  in  this 
great  enterprise.2  If  the  soul  be  immortal,  priceless,  save  it 
from  remediless  woe.  Let  them  combine  their  energies,  and 
systematize  their  plans,  for  the  rescue  of  suffering  humanity. 
Let  them  pour  out  their  supplications  to  heaven  in  behalf  of 
the  slave.  Prayer  is  omnipotent :  its  breath  can  melt  adaman 
tine  rocks  —  its  touch  can  break  the  stoutest  chains.  Let 
anti-slavery  charity-boxes  stand  uppermost  among  those  for 
missionary,  tract  and  educational  purposes.  On  this  subject, 
Christians  have  been  asleep  ;  let  them  shake  off  their  slumbers, 
and  arm  for  the  holy  contest. 

"  I  call  upon  our  New-England  women  to  form  charitable 
associations  to  relieve  the  degraded  of  their  sex.  As  yet,  an 

1  An  allusion  to  the  few  anti-slavery  societies  among  the  Friends  in 
some  of  the  Southern  States. 

2  So  Daniel  Webster,  in  his  Plymouth  oration,  Dec.  22,  1820,   of  the 
African  slave-trade  and  of  New-England  complicity  with  it:  "I  invoke  the 
ministers  of  our  religion,  that  they  proclaim  its  denunciation  of  these  crimes, 
and  add  its  solemn  sanctions  to  the  authority  of  human  laws.     If  the  pul 
pit  be  silent  whenever  or  wherever  there  may  be  a  sinner  bloody  with  this 
guilt  within  the  hearing  of  its  voice,  the  pulpit  is  false  to  its  trust"  (Works, 
1:46). 


.£T.  23-24.]  BENNINGTON.  137 

appeal  to  their  sympathies  was  never  made  in  vain.     They     CHAP.  v. 
outstrip  us  in  every  benevolent  race.     Females  are  doing  much 
for  the  cause  at  the  South ;  let  their  example  be  imitated,  and 
their  exertions  surpassed,  at  the  North. 

"  I  call  upon  our  citizens  to  assist  in  establishing-  auxiliary 
colonization  societies  in  every  State,  county  and  town.  I  im 
plore  their  direct  and  liberal  patronage  to  the  parent  society. 

"  I  call  upon  the  great  body  of  newspaper  editors  to  keep 
this  subject  constantly  before  their  readers  j  to  sound  the 
trumpet  of  alarm,  and  to  plead  eloquently  for  the  rights  of 
man.  They  must  give  the  tone  to  public  sentiment.  One  press 
may  ignite  twenty ;  a  city  may  warm  a  State ;  a  State  may 
impart  a  generous  heat  to  a  whole  country. 

"  I  call  upon  the  American  people  to  enfranchise  a  spot  over 
which  they  hold  complete  sovereignty  j  to  cleanse  that  worse 
than  Augean  stable,  the  District  of  Columbia,  from  its  foul 
impurities.  I  ask  them  to  sustain  Congress  in  any  future 
efforts  to  colonize  the  c.olored  population  of  the  States.  I 
conjure  them  to  select  those  as  Representatives  who  are  not  too 
ignorant  to  know,  too  blind  to  see,  nor  too  timid  to  perform 
their  duty. 

"  I  will  say,  finally,  that  I  despair  of  the  republic  while 
slavery  exists  therein.  If  I  look  up  to  God  for  success,  no  smile 
of  mercy  or  forgiveness  dispels  the  gloom  of  futurity ;  if  to  our 
own  resources,  they  are  daily  diminishing  ;  if  to  all  history,  our 
destruction  is  not  only  possible,  but  almost  certain.  Why 
should  we  slumber  at  this  momentous  crisis?  If  our  hearts 
were  dead  to  every  throb  of  humanity  j  if  it  were  lawful  to 
oppress,  where  power  is  ample  j  still,  if  we  had  any  regard  for 
our  safety  and  happiness,  we  should  strive  to  crush  the  Vam 
pire  which  is  feeding  upon  our  life-blood.  All  the  selfishness 
of  our  nature  cries  aloud  for  a  better  security.  Our  own  vices 
are  too  strong  for  us,  and  keep  us  in  perpetual  alarm ;  how, 
in  addition  to  these,  shall  we  be  able  to  contend  successfully 
with  millions  of  armed  and  desperate  men,  as  we  must  eventu 
ally,  if  slavery  do  not  cease  ?  " 

At  the  conclusion  of  Mr.  Garrison's  address  Mr.  Plurnly, 
an  agent  of  the  American  Colonization  Society,  briefly 
urged  its  claims  to  support,  and  a  collection  in  aid  of  it 
was  taken  up  j  but,  beyond  what  is  quoted  above,  the 
orator  of  the  day  said  nothing  in  favor  of  the  Society, 
except  to  commend  the  infant  colony  of  Liberia. 


138  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAEKISON.  C^T.  23-24. 


CHAP.  v.  The  Boston  American  Traveller  of  three  days  later  con- 
1828-29.  tained  a  notice  of  the  discourse,  in  which  the  orator  was 
described  as  "  of  quite  a  youthful  appearance,  and  habited 
in  a  suit  of  black,  with  his  neck  bare,  and  a  broad  linen 
collar  spread  over  that  of  his  coat.  His  prefatory  re 
marks  were  rendered  inaudible  by  the  feebleness  of  his 
utterance  j  but,  as  he  advanced,  his  voice  was  raised,  his 
confidence  was  regained,  and  his  earnestness  became  per 
ceptible."  The  Traveller's  abstract  of  his  remarks  was 
so  meagre  and  imperfect,  that  Mr.  Garrison  felt  it  neces 
sary  to  correct  and  extend  it  in  a  letter  to  the  Courier, 
and  this  evoked  a  scurrilous  and  abusive  attack  from  an 
anonymous  correspondent  of  the  Traveller,  who  accused 
him  of  slandering  his  country  and  libelling  the  Declara 
tion  of  Independence.  The  editorial  columns  joined  in  the 
abuse,  of  which,  however,  Mr.  Grarrison  took  no  further 
notice,  and  within  a  few  days  he  left  the  city,  probably 
going  to  Newburyport  for  a  brief  visit,  before  his  de 
parture  for  Baltimore  to  join  Lundy. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

"THE   GENIUS  OF  UNIVERSAL  EMANCIPATION." 
1829-30. 


A  MERICAN  slavery,  according  to  John  Wesley,  was 
/%  "  the  vilest  that  ever  saw  the  sun."  In  an  eloquent 
passage  of  his  Park-Street  address,  Mr.  Garrison  had 
briefly  pictured  the  awful  features  of  the  system,  and 
had  recounted  the  list  of  wrongs  and  outrages  which  the 
slaves,  if  they  were  to  imitate  the  example  of  the  Revo 
lutionary  fathers  and  rise  in  revolt,  might  present  to  the 
world  as  their  justification,  after  the  manner  of  the  Decla 
ration  of  Independence.  The  invasion  of  African  soil, 
the  kidnapping  of  the  natives,  the  indescribable  horrors 
of  the  middle  passage,  the  brutal  treatment  of  the  slaves, 
the  abrogation  of  the  marriage  institution,  the  cruel  sep 
aration  of  families,  the  miseries  of  the  domestic  slave- 
trade,  and  the  absolute  power  over  the  life,  property 
and  person  of  his  slaves  accorded  and  insured  to  the 
master  by  the  laws  of  the  slave  States,  were  all  touched 
upon  :  but  it  was  not  to  these  alone  that  Garrison  was 

*•          ' 

keenly  alive.     We  have  already  seen,  in  his  address  at 

Park  Street,  that  he  fully  appreciated  the  political  ad-  Ante,  p.  133. 

vantage  given  to  the  South  by  the  clause  of  the  Constitu 

tion  which  permitted  her  to  add  three-fifths  of  her  slave 

population  to  the  number  of  her  free  inhabitants,  in  fixing 

the  basis  of  representation  in  the  lower  house  of  Con 

gress.     He  showed  that  the  free  States,  with  a  free  popu 

lation  more  numerous  by  nearly  one  hundred  per  cent. 

than  that  of  the  slave  States,  had  only  121  representa- 

139 


stroud's 
ing  to 


American 

Slave  Code 

(1853). 


140  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAEKISON.  [^T.  24-25. 


CHAP.  vi.  tives  in  Congress,  while  the  slave  States  had  90  (I.  e., 
1829^30.  about  25  more  than  they  were  fairly  entitled  to)  ;  and 
a  similar  advantage  was  of  course  gained  in  the  Elec 
toral  College,  insuring,  with  the  votes  easily  obtained 
from  three  or  four  Northern  States,  the  election  of  Presi 
dents  subservient  to  the  Slave  Power.  Recognizing  the 
force  of  these  Constitutional  provisions  while  they  re 
mained  unrepealed,  he  declared  a  dissolution  of  the 
Union,  if  that  should  prove  the  only  way  of  escape  from 
such  sinful  obligations,  infinitely  preferable  to  continued 
complicity. 

Nat.Phiian.       u  I  acknowledge  that  immediate  and  complete  emanci- 

tigator^My  pation  is  not  desirable,"  he  went  on  to  say.     "  No  rational 

29,  1829.     man  cherishes  so  wild  a  vision."    But  when  he  came  to 

reflect  upon  the  matter,  he  saw  that  his  feet  were  on  the 

sand,  and  not  on  the  solid  rock,  so  long  as  he  granted 

slavery  the  right  to  exist  for  a  single  moment  ;  that  if 

W.  L.  G.  at  human  beings  could  be  justly  held  in  bondage  one  hour, 
ci-ub  Din-  they  could  be  for  days  and  weeks  and  years,  and  so  on, 
i4?i878.  indefinitely,  from  generation  to  generation  ;  and  that  the 
only  way  to  deal  with  the  system  was  to  lay  the  axe  at  the 
root  of  the  tree  and  demand  IMMEDIATE  AND  UNCONDI 
TIONAL  EMANCIPATION.  This  conviction  forced  itself  upon 
his  mind  during  the  five  or  six  weeks  which  elapsed  be 
tween  the  delivery  of  his  address  and  his  departure  for 
Baltimore,  and  when,  after  a  fifteen  days'  voyage  by  sea, 
he  reached  the  latter  city,  some  time  in  August,  1829, 
and  presented  himself  to  Lundy,  he  lost  no  time  in 
acquainting  his  partner  with  the  change  in  his  views,  and 
the  necessity  he  should  be  under,  if  he  joined  him,  of 
preaching  the  gospel  accordingly.  "  Well,"  said  Lundy, 
who  was  not  prepared  to  accept  the  new  doctrine  himself, 
"  thee  may  put  thy  initials  to  thy  articles,  and  I  will  put 
my  initials  to  mine,  and  each  will  bear  his  own  burden." 
"  Very  good,"  responded  Garrison,  "  that  will  answer,  and 
I  shall  be  able  to  free  my  soul."  And  thus  the  partners, 
little  known,  with  few  friends,  and  without  money,  began 
their  joint  warfare  upon  American  slavery. 


,ET,  24-25.]  "THE  GENIUS."  141 

The  first  number  of  the  Genius  of  Universal  Umaneipa-  CHAP.  vi. 
tion  under  these  new  auspices  was  dated  Wednesday,  182^30. 
September  2,  1829,  and  was  the  227th  issued  since  its 
foundation  by  Lundy  eight  years  before.1  It  now  ap 
peared  after  an  interval  of  eight  months  (during  which 
Lundy  had  made  his  trip  to  Hayti  with  the  twelve  Ante, p.  123, 
emancipated  slaves),  in  a  much  enlarged  and  improved 
sheet  of  eight  pages,  the  printed  page  of  four  columns 
measuring  about  9x13  inches.  A  vignette  of  the  Ame 
rican  eagle  surmounted  the  title  of  the  paper,  and  the 
motto  below  the  title  was  the  immortal  assertion  from 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  (the  "  glittering  gene 
rality  "  which  the  Abolitionists  were  to  make  —  as  Emer 
son,  in  his  retort  to  Ruf  us  Choate's  sneer,  declared  it  — 
a  "  blazing  ubiquity"),  "  We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self- 
evident  :  that  all  men  are  created  equal,  and  endowed  by 
their  Creator  with  certain  inalienable  rights ;  that  among 
these  are  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness."  At 
the  head  of  the  first  column  stood  Curran's  eloquent 
idealization  of  the  spirit  of  liberty,  from  which  the  paper 
derived  its  name,  with  editorial  applications  interpo 
lated.2 

For  the  first  and  only  time  during  his  editorial  career 
Mr.  Garrison  was  not  obliged  to  labor  at  the  case,  or  to 

1  From  1821  to  1825,  inclusive,  Lundy  published  the  paper  monthly,  and 
occasionally  fortnightly,  as  means  permitted.     The  weekly  issue  began  in 
September,  1825. 

2  "I  speak  in  the  spirit  of  the  British  [American?]  law,  which  makes 
liberty  commensurate  with,  and  inseparable  from,  the  British  [American  ?~\ 
soil — which  proclaims,  even  to  the  stranger  and  the  sojourner,  the  moment 
he  sets  his  foot  upon  British  [American  ?~\  earth,  that  the  ground  on  which 
he  treads  is  holy,  and  consecrated  by  the  Genius  of  Universal  Emancipa 
tion,     No  matter  in  what  language  his  doom  may  have  been  pronounced; — 
no  matter  what  complexion,  incompatible  with  freedom,  an  Indian  or  an 
African  sun  may  have  burnt  upon  him; — no  matter  in  what  disastrous 
battle  his  liberty  may  have  been  cloven  down; — no  matter  with  what 
solemnities  he  may  have  been  devoted  upon  the  altar  of  slavery :  the  first 
moment  he  touches  the  sacred  soil  of  Britain  [America?],  the  altar  and  the 
god  sink  together  in  the  dust ;  his  soul  walks  abroad  in  her  own  majesty ; 
his  body  swells  beyond  the  measure  of  his  chains,  that  burst  from  around 
him,  and  he  stands  redeemed,  regenerated,  and  disenthralled,  by  the  irre 
sistible  Genius  of  Universal  Emancipation." 


142  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAREISON.  [^T.  24-25. 


CHAP.  vi.  perform  any  part  of  the  manual  labor  of  the  office,  as 
1829-30.  the  Genius  was  printed  by  contract,1  and  it  was  agreed 
that  he  should  be  the  resident  and  managing  editor, 
while  Lundy  took  the  field  and  went  forth  to  canvass 
for  subscribers  ;  the  list  of  patrons  being  far  too  meagre 
to  support  the  large  and  handsome  sheet  which  they  had 
essayed  to  issue.  In  the  two  salutatory  addresses  which 
they  wrote,  each  under  his  own  signature,  Lundy  con 
fined  himself  to  a  simple  announcement  of  the  arrange 
ment,  while  Garrison  gave  a  brief  exposition  of  his  views 
on  slavery  and  colonization  : 

TO   THE   PUBLIC. 

Ten  months  ago,  as  editor  of  the  Bennington  Journal  of  the 
Times,  I  publickly  declared  that,  on  whatever  spot  I  might 
afterward  be  located,  the  energies  of  my  life  should  be  directed 
to  the  overthrow  of  three  of  the  greatest  evils  which  curse  our 
race  —  namely:  SLAVERY,  INTEMPERANCE,  and  WAR.  My 
resolution  is  unchanged. 

In  devoting  my  services  to  the  extinction  of  slavery,  I  do  not 
mean  to  lose  sight  of  the  other  specified  abominations  ;  but 
they  must  necessarily  receive  less  of  my  attention  and  aid.  .  .  . 

It  may  be  proper,  at  this  time,  as  assistant  editor  of  this 
paper,  to  state  my  views  relative  to  the  removal  of  slavery 
from  our  land.  This  exposition  must  be  made  briefly. 

First,  in  regard  to  the  plan  of  the  American  Colonization 
Society.  No  man  contemplates  with  more  intense  interest  and 
unmingled  satisfaction  the  colony  at  Liberia  than  the  sub 
scriber.  I  have  elsewhere  termed  it  the  lungs  and  heart  of 
Africa,  full  of  generous  respiration  and  warm  blood.  But  the 
work  of  colonization  is  exceedingly  dilatory  and  uncertain.  It 
can  never  entirely  relieve  the  country.  It  may  pluck  a  few 
leaves  from  the  Bohon  Upas,  but  can  neither  extract  its  roots 
nor  destroy  its  withering  properties.  Viewed  as  an  auxiliary,  it 
deserves  encouragement  ;  but  as  a  remedy,  it  is  altogether  in 
adequate.  I  wish  to  see  its  funds  as  exhaustless  as  the  number 
of  applicants  for  removal,  and  the  fruits  of  its  enterprise  yet 
more  abundant. 

I  fear,  however,  that  a  majority  of  the  people  place  too  much 
reliance  upon  the  ability  of  this  Society.  Many  are  lulling 

1  By  Lucas  &  Deaver.  The  publication  office  was  at  19  South  Calvert 
Street.  The  subscription  price  of  the  Genius  was  $3.00  a  year. 


Mr.  24-25.]  "THE   GENIUS."  143 

themselves  into  a  belief  that  the  monster  has  received  his    CHAP.  vi. 
mortal  wound,  and  they  scarcely  feel  any  interest  to  be  in  at      l8  ~0 
the  death.      The  crafty  advocates  of  slavery  rejoice   at  this 
delusion,   for  they  can  now  repose  in  comparative  security. 
For  my  own  part,  I  do  not  believe  that  the  removal  of  the  great1 
body  of  the  blacks  can  be  effected  by  voluntary  contributions 
or  individual  sacrifices ;  and  if  we  depend  alone  upon  the  efforts 
of  colonization  societies,  slavery  will  never  be  exterminated. 

As  a  home  for  emancipated  slaves,  I  view  the  republic  of 
Hayti  with  a  favourable  eye.  In  many  points  it  is  superior  to 
Liberia.  Its  climate  is  more  salubrious,  its  government  is 
stable,  its  locality  is  near,  and  transportation  can  be  effected 
more  cheaply.  Emigrants  are  received  with  cordial  affection, 
and  allowed  extraordinary  privileges.  Our  free  coloured  people, 
moreover,  generally  cherish  less  repugnance  to  Hayti  than  to 
Liberia. 

But  while  I  would  encourage  every  feasible  plan  for  the 
reduction  of  this  part  of  our  population,  I  shall  rely  on  nothing 
but  the  eternal  principles  of  justice  for  the  speedy  overthrow 
of  slavery.  Since  the  delivery  of  my  address  in  Boston,  relative 
to  this  subject,  I  am  convinced,  on  mature  reflection,  that  no 
valid  excuse  can  be  given  for  the  continuance  of  the  evil  a 
single  hour.  These,  therefore,  are  my  positions  : 

1.  That  the  slaves  are  entitled  to  immediate  and  complete 
emancipation :  consequently,  to  hold  them  longer  in  bondage  is 
both  tyrannical  and  unnecessary. 

2.  That  the  question  of  expediency  has  nothing  to  do  with 
that  of  right,  and  it  is  not  for  those  who  tyrannise  to  say  when 
they  may  safely  break  the  chains  of  their  subjects.     As  well 
may  a  thief  determine  on  what  particular  day  or  month  he 
shall  leave  off  stealing,  with  safety  to  his  own  interest. 

3.  That,  on  the  ground  of  expediency,  it  would  be  wiser  to 
set  all  the  slaves  free  to-day  than  to-morrow  —  or  next  week 
than  next  year.     To  think  of  removing  them  all  out  of  the  land 
is  visionary :  not  two-fiftieths  of  the  annual  increase  are  taken 
away  during  the  same  period.     Hence  the  sooner  they  receive 
the  benefits  of  instruction,  the  better  for  them  and  us.    We  can 
educate  two  millions  of  slaves,  now,  with  more  facility  and  suc 
cess  than  four  millions  at  the  expiration  of  twenty-five  years. 
Give  them  liberation,  and  every  inducement  to  revolt  is  re 
moved  ;  give  them  employment  as  free  labourers,  and  their 
industry  will  be  more  productive  and  beneficial  than  mines  of 
gold  ;  give  them  religious  and  secular  instruction,  restrict  them 


144  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAEKISON.  [^T.  24-25. 


CHAP.  VI.  with  suitable  regulations,  and  they  will  make  peaceable 
i82~  o  citizens.  One  million  of  degraded  slaves  are  more  dangerous 
to  the  welfare  of  the  country  than  would  be  two  millions 
of  degraded  freemen. 

4.  That,  as  a  very  large  proportion  of  our  colored  population 
were  born  on  American  soil,  they  are  at  liberty  to  choose  their 
own  dwelling-place,  and  we  possess  no  right  to  use  coercive 
measures  in  their  removal. 

Cherishing  these  views,  therefore,  I  shall  give  no  quarter  to 
the  open  advocates  of  slavery,  nor  easily  excuse  those  pseudo- 
philanthropists  who  find  an  apology  for  its  continuance  in  the 
condition  of  the  slaves. 

It  would  give  me  pleasure,  in  concluding  these  remarks,  to 
pass  an  elaborate  eulogium  upon  the  zealous  and  amiable 
philanthropist  with  whom  I  am  associated  ;  but,  for  obvious 
reasons,  I  forbear.  Elsewhere  I  have  not  ^hesitated  to  bear 
testimony  to  his  worth,  and  witnesses  thereto  are  multiplying 
in  every  quarter.  Two  republics  will  assist  in  building  his 
monument,  which  no  time  shall  crumble. 

For  myself,  whatever  else  I  may  lack,  I  bring  to  this  great 
cause  a  warm  heart  and  a  willing  hand  ;  nor  shall  I  spare  any 
efforts,  in  conjunction  with  the  senior  editor,  to  make  the 
Genius  of  Universal  Emancipation  worthy  of  extensive  patronage. 

WM.  LLOYD  GARRISON.! 

l  The  only  direct  appeal  for  immediate,  as  opposed  to  gradual,  emancipa 
tion  which  appears  to  have  been  made  in  the  United  States  prior  to  the 
above  declaration  of  Garrison's,  was  in  'A  Treatise  on  Slavery,  in  which  is 
shown  forth  the  Evil  of  Slaveholding,  both  from  the  Light  of  Nature  and 
Divine  Revelation,  by  [Rev.]  James  Duncan.'  This  was  a  small  volume 
printed  at  the  Indiana  Register  office,  in  Vevay,  Indiana,  in  the  year  1824, 
in  which  the  author  showed  the  fallacy  of  gradualism,  at  the  very  outset, 
in  his  preface.  The  work  is  a  remarkable  one,  and  indicates  that  Mr. 
Duncan  possessed  great  powers  of  reasoning,  and  rare  clearness  of  vision, 
for  that  day,  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  He  devoted  much  space  to  proving 
slavery  to  be  a  violation  of  all  the  Commandments,  and  of  the  Divine  Law, 
opposed  to  republicanism,  and  hurtful  to  masters  as  well  as  slaves.  Slave 
holders  were  warned  that  they  could  not  escape  perdition  for  their  sins,  if 
they  failed  to  repent  and  release  their  captives.  The  book,  written  from 
the  extreme  orthodox  standpoint,  bore  evidence  on  every  page  of  the  vigor 
and  earnestness  of  the  writer,  though  he  weakened  it  by  an  Appendix,  in 
which  he  assented  that  the  blacks  should  be  kept  under  a  certain  tutelage 
for  a  time  after  emancipation,  subject  to  patrols,  obliged  to  bear  passes, 
etc.  It  seems  strange  that  so  masterly  an  argument  should  have  fallen 
dead,  making  no  stir  or  impression,  and  being  consigned  to  a  speedy 
oblivion,  in  which  it  remained  until  discovered  and  reprinted  in  1840  by  the 
American  Anti-Slavery  Society  ;  but  the  writer  had  the  disadvantage  of 


JET.  24-25.]  UTHE    GENIUS."  145 

Lundy  and  his  partner  boarded  with  two  Quaker  CHAP.  vr. 
ladies,  Beulah  Harris  and  sister,  who  lived  at  135  Mar-  182^30. 
ket  Street,  and  their  circle  of  acquaintances  was  limited 
to  a  few  Quaker  friends  and  some  of  the  more  intelligent 
colored  people  of  the  city.1  Associated  with  them  in  the 
conduct  of  the  Genius  was  a  young  Quaker  woman, 
Elizabeth  Margaret  Chandler,  a  resident  of  Philadelphia, 
who  possessed  considerable  literary  taste  and  skill  and 
decided  poetic  talent.  Early  attracted  by  Lundy's  efforts 
in  behalf  of  the  slaves,  she  had  become  a  contributor  to 
the  \}enius  in  1826,  when  in  her  nineteenth  year,  and 
some  of  her  productions  were  widely  copied.  She  now 
consented  to  take  charge  of  a  department  of  the  paper 
styled  the  '"  Ladies'  Repository,"  which  occupied  a  page 
and  a  half  of  each  number.  Her  industry  was  unceas 
ing,  and  her  brother  editors  greatly  valued  her  aid.2 

The  last  page  of  the  Genius  was  printed  in  French,  for 
the  benefit  of  Haytian  subscribers,  and  also  contained  a 
list  of  agents  for  the  paper  in  different  cities.  This 
included  the  names  of  James  Mott,  of  Philadelphia, 
Dr.  Bartholomew  Fussell,  of  Kennett  Square,  Pa.,  and 
Samuel  PhiLbrick,  of  Boston,  none  of  whom  were  then 
personally  known  to  Mr.  Garrison,  but  who  subsequently 

publishing  his  work  in  an  obscure  town  and  a  remote  State,  where  he  had 
no  facilities  for  forcing  it  upon  the  attention  of  the  country  at  large.  Nor 
did  he  follow  it  up  by  dedicating  hte  life  to  the  cause. 

1  Among  the  former,  John  Needles,  who  subsequently  attained  a  ripe  age 
and  lived  to  see  slavery  abolished,  was  one  of  the  truest  and  most  devoted ; 
while  among  the  latter  were  William  Watkins  (probably  the  "Colored 
Baltimorean"   subsequently  referred   to),   Jacob   Greener,    and  his  sons 
Richard  W.  and  Jacob  C.  Greener.     Jacob  Greener  was  earnestly  opposed 
to   the  Colonization   Society.     His  sons  were  afterwards  the  Baltimore 
agents  of  the  Liberator.     A  grandson,  Prof.  Richard  T.  Greener,  was  the 
first  colored  graduate  of  Harvard  University  (Class  of  1870). 

2  She  died  Nov.  2,  1834,  in  her  twenty-seventh  year,  while  residing  with 
her  brother  in  Michigan.     Her  literary  productions  were   subsequently 
published  in  a  volume  for  which   Mr.   Lundy  wrote   the   introductory 
memoir  (Philadelphia,  1836).     Mr.  Garrison's  tribute  to  her  memory,  after 
visiting  her  grave  in  1853,  will  be  found  in  Lib.  23:190.     He  declared  her 
"worthy  to  be  associated  with  Elizabeth  Heyrick  of  England,"  and  she 
certainly  deserves  to  be  known  and  honored  as  the  first  American  woman 
who  devoted  her  time  and  talents  to  the  cause  of  the  slave. 

VOL.  L— 10 


146 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKRISON. 


[JET.  24-25. 


CHAP.  vi.  became  his  life-long  friends  and  co-workers ;  and  also 
1829^30.  James  Cropper,  of  Liverpool.  It  was  doubtless  to  the 
last-named  gentleman,  an  active  supporter  of  Wilber- 
force  and  Buxton  in  the  English  anti-slavery  movement, 
that  Lundy  and  Garrison  were  indebted  for  a  frequent 
supply  of  reports  and  other  publications  showing  the 
progress  of  the  agitation  for  West-India  emancipation. 
They  published  considerable  extracts  from  these  in  the 
Genius,  contrasting  the  activity  of  the  British  with  the 
apathy  of  the  American  abolitionists,  and  trying  to 
incite  the  latter  to  similar  effort.  Special  attention  was 
called  to  the  English  Ladies'  Anti- Slavery  Societies,  in 
the  "  Ladies'  Repository/'  which  also  gave  many  extracts 
from  Elizabeth  Heyrick's  '  Letters  on  the  Prompt  Extinc 
tion  of  British  Colonial  Slavery,'  as  clear  and  cogent 
productions  as  the  same  author's  pamphlet,  '  Immediate, 
not  Gradual  Emancipation.7 1 

Colonization  was  a  theme  of  constant  discussion  in 
the  pages  of  the  Genius.  Lundy,  fresh  from  his  visit  to 
Hayti,  began  in  the  very  first  number  a  series  of  nine 
articles  on  that  country,  describing  its  climate,  soil,  and 
products,  and  giving  the  fullest  information  he  could 
concerning  the  Haytian  government  and  people.  He 
evidently  took  little  interest  in  Liberia,  and,  as  has  been 

Ante,  p.  91.  already  mentioned,  had  early  expressed  his  distrust  of 
the  Colonization  Society,  because  it  did  not  make  eman 
cipation  a  primary  object,  but  was  actively  supported  by 
prominent  slaveholders  like  Clay,  Randolph,  and  Bushrod 
Washington.  Hayti  was  near  our  own  shores,  and  its 
Government  was  ready  to  give  land  to  all  immigrants 
who  would  settle  upon  it,  while  a  few  large  land-owners 
offered  to  pay  the  cost  of  transportation  of  such  as 

i  To  Elizabeth  Heyrick,  of  Leicester,  England,  a  member  of  the  Society 
of  Friends,  belongs  the  high  distinction  of  having  been  the  first  to  enun 
ciate  the  doctrine  of  Immediate  Emancipation.  Her  pamphlet  on  that  sub 
ject,  published  in  1825,  was  so  able  and  convincing  that  the  abolitionists  of 
Great  Britain,  then  struggling  for  the  overthrow  of  slavery  in  the  West 
Indies,  quickly  adopted  the  principle  thus  proclaimed  by  her,  and  con 
quered  under  that  sign. 


G.  U.  E., 
Mar.,  1824. 


^ET.  24-25.]  "THE  GENIUS."  147 

would  come  from  the  United  States.     Few  were  tempted    CHAP.  vi. 
even  by  these  inducements,  and  the  fruitless  insertion  of      1829^30. 
the  following  advertisement  in  the  Genius  for  several 
successive  weeks   indicated   that  the  eagerness  on  the 
part  of  many  slaveholders  to  liberate  their  slaves,  if  free 
transportation  from  the  country  could  be  secured  for 
them,  did  not  exist  to  the  extent  to  which  the  Coloniza 
tion  Society  would  have  had  it  believed  : 

EMIGRATION   TO   HAYTI.  G.  U.  E., 

Nov.  13  to 

JSP  To  humane,  conscientious  Slaveholders.  <j$^  Dec-  l8- 

1829. 

Wanted,  immediately,  from  twenty  to  fifty  SLAVES,  to  re 
move  and  settle  in  the  Republic  of  Hayti,  where  they  will  be 
forthwith  invested  with  the  rights  of  free  men,  and  receive  con 
stant  employment  and  liberal  wages,  in  a  healthy  and  pleasant 
section  of  the  country. 

CF1  THE  PRICE  OF  PASSAGE  WILL  BE  ADVANCED,  and  every 
thing  furnished  of  which  they  may  stand  in  need,  until  they 
shall  have  time  to  prepare  their  houses  and  set  in  to  work. 
None  will  be  taken,  however,  but  such  as  reside  in  country 
places,  and  (those  who  are  of  sufficient  age)  accustomed  to 
agricultural  or  mechanical  labor. 

Application  may  be  made  to  the  undersigned,  at  No.  135 
Market  Street,  Baltimore. 

LUNDY  &  GARRISON. 
November  10th,  1829. 

N.  B. —  Editors  of  Newspapers,  friendly  to  the  colonization 
of  the  colored  race,  are  respectfully  requested  to  notice  the 
above.  L.  &  G. 

Lundy  was  anxious  to  establish  colonies  of  free  colored 
people  in  Hayti,  Canada,  Texas,  or  any  place  fairly  ac 
cessible  from  the  Southern  States,  so  that  no  master  dis 
posed  to  emancipate  his  slaves,  if  an  asylum  could  be 
found  for  them,  and  their  removal  assured,  could  have 
excuse  for  not  doing  so.  He  apparently  did  not  stop  to 
analyze  the  motives  of  the  Colonization  Society,  and 
Garrison  was  slow  to  discover  its  real  animus.  The 
latter  came,  ere  long,  to  regard  it  as  "a  doubtful  auxili-  ibid., 
ary,"  and  to  view  it  with  growing  distrust  and  hostility.  1830, /.  147. 
Some  of  his  colored  friends  in  Baltimore  were  the  first  to 


148  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARKISON.  [&?•  24-25. 


CHAP.  vi.  point  out  to  him  its  dangerous  character  and  tendency, 
1829^30.  and  its  purpose  to  strengthen  slavery  by  expelling  the 
free  people  of  color,  whom  the  slaveholders  instinctively 
deemed  a  constant  source  of  danger  on  account  of  their 
intelligence  and  their  ability  (if  so  disposed)  to  disaffect 
the  slaves.  One  of  these,  under  the  signature  of  "  A 
Colored  Baltimorean,"  contributed  two  remarkably  able 
and  vigorous  articles  in  reply  to  another  colored  corre 
spondent,  a  eulogist  of  the  Society,  and  exposed  with  great 
keenness  its  fraudulent  pretences.1 

So  eager  were  the  Southern  Colonizationists  to  get  rid 
of  the  free  colored  people  that  they  even  invoked  special 
appropriations  for  the  purpose  from  their  State  Legisla 
tures  and  from  Congress,  and  the  proposition  was  favored 
by  Henry  Clay,  who  was  the  foremost  supporter  of  the 
Colonization  Society  in  Kentucky  ;  but  these  schemes 
failed.2  A  long  address  by  Clay  before  the  Kentucky 
society  was  elaborately  reviewed  and  criticized  in  the 
Genius  by  Garrison,  who  began  his  series  of  articles  with 
G.  u.  E.,  a  fresh  avowal  of  his  admiration  for  Clay,  and  of  the  sat- 
1830,  p^vjg.  isfaction  with  which  he  looked  forward  to  his  ultimate 
elevation  to  the  Presidency,  —  "  the  champion  who  is  des 
tined  to  save  this  country  from  anarchy,  corruption  and 
ruin."  This  did  not  prevent  his  dealing  faithfully  with 
the  errors,  sophistries  and  shortcomings  of  the  address, 
and  he  hastened  to  assert,  at  the  outset,  the  equality  of 
the  human  race  :  — 

"  I  deny  the  postulate  that  God  has  made,  by  an  irreversible 
decree,  or  any  inherent  qualities,  one  portion  of  the  human 
race  superior  to  another.  No  matter  how  many  breeds  are 
amalgamated  —  no  matter  how  many  shades  of  color  intervene 
between  tribes  or  nations  —  give  them  the  same  chances  to  im 
prove,  and  a  fair  start  at  the  same  time,  and  the  result  will  be 
equally  brilliant,  equally  productive,  equally  grand." 

1  An  admirable  letter  from  the  same  writer,  on  the  proposition  of  the 
Colonization  Society  to  civilize  and  evangelize  Africa  with  a  population  which 
it  declared  to  be  the  "  most  vicious  of  all  classes  in  this  country,"  had  ap 
peared  in  the  Genius  of  June  28,  1828,  more  than  a  year  before. 

2  A  committee  of  the  Maryland  Legislature  reported  favorably,  but  in 
Georgia  and  Missouri  the  proposal  met  with  decided  disapproval. 


^ET.  24-25.]  "THE  GENIUS."  149 

Pointing  to  the  fact  that  the  Colonization  Society  had    CHAP.  vi. 
transported  only  thirteen  hundred  emigrants  to  Liberia      1829-30. 
in  thirteen  years,  while  the  slave  population  had  increased 
half  a  million  during  the  same  period,  he  added  : 

"  And  yet,  such  is  the  colonization  mania,  such  the  implicit  G.  U.  E., 
confidence  reposed  in  the  operations  of  the  Society,  that  no  1830, /.  202. 
demonstration  of  its  inefficiency,  however  palpable,  can  shake 
the  faith  of  its  advocates.  .  .  .  My  complaint  is,  that  its 
ability  is  overrated  to  a  disastrous  extent ;  that  this  delusion  is 
perpetuated  by  the  conduct  and  assurances  of  those  who  ought 
to  act  better  —  the  members  of  the  Society.  I  complain,  more 
over,  that  the  lips  of  these  members  are  sealed  up  on  the  sub 
ject  of  slavery,  who,  from  their  high  standing  and  extensive 
influence,  ought  to  expose  its  flagrant  enormities,  and  actively 
assist  in  its  overthrow." 

In  the  condition  of  the  free  colored  people,  who  were 
despised  and  persecuted  in  the  Northern  cities  no  less 
than  in  the  Southern,1  the  editors  of  the  Genius  naturally 
took  a  deep  interest,  urging  the  establishment  of  schools 
and  the  formation  of  temperance  societies  among  them ; 2 
and  Mr.  Garrison  wrote  thus  in  their  vindication  : 

"  There  is  a  prevalent  disposition  among  all  classes  to  traduce  /bid. 
the  habits  and  morals  of  our  free  blacks.  The  most  scandalous 
exaggerations  in  regard  to  their  condition  are  circulated  by  a 
thousand  mischievous  tongues,  and  no  reproach  seems  to  them 
too  deep  or  unmerited.  Vile  and  malignant  indeed  is  this  prac 
tice,  and  culpable  are  they  who  follow  it.  We  do  not  pretend 
to  say  that  crime,  intemperance  and  suffering,  to  a  considerable 

1  So  bitter  was  the  feeling  against  them  in  Cincinnati,  in  1829,  that  the 
local  authorities  enacted  certain  oppressive  regulations  with  the  avowed 
purpose  of  driving  them  from  the  city.     The  result  was  a  furious  riot  last 
ing  three  days — during  which  the  persons,  homes  and  property  of  the 
blacks  were  at  the  mercy  of  the  mob  —  and  the  final  flight  of  more  than  a 
thousand  of  them  to  Canada.  (See  Wilson's  '  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Slave  Power 
in  America,'  1:  365.) 

2  The  labors  of  the  Rev.  Simeon  S.  Jocelyn  among  the  colored  people  of 
New  Haven  were  deservedly  praised  and  commended  as  an  example  of 
what  should  be  done  in  other  places.     Jacob  C.  Greener  established  a  school 
for  orphan  and  indigent  children  in  Baltimore,  and  a  colored  temperance 
society  was  also  formed  there.     The  erection  of  a  college,  on  the  manual- 
labor  system,  was  proposed  privately,  though  no  reference  to  it  appears  in 
the  Genius  (Lib.  1 :  111). 


150  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAKKISON.  [^T.  24-25. 


CHAP.  VI.    extent,  cannot  be  found  among  ths  free  blacks  ;  but  we  do 

l8  ~,         assert  that  they  are  as  moral,  peaceable  and  industrious  as  that 

class  of  the  whites  who  are,  like  them,  in  indigent  circum 

stances  —  and  far  less  intemperate  than  the  great  body  of  f  or- 

•  eign  emigrants  who  infest  and  corrupt  our  shores." 

Although  slavery  in  the  cities  was  considered  to  be  of 
a  milder  type  than  on  the  plantations,  Lundy  and  Garri 
son  were  frequent  witnesses  of  some  of  its  iniquities 
and  horrors.  Slave  auctions  were  of  course  of  common 
occurrence  in  Baltimore,  and  the  shipment  of  slaves 
to  the  New  Orleans  market  was  constantly  going  on. 
During  the  first  month  of  their  partnership,  they  received 
a  call,  one  Sunday,  from  a  slave  who  had  just  been 
G.  u.  £.,  severely  whipped  with  a  cowskin,  and  on.  whose  bleeding 
l32g^227.  back,  from  his  neck  to  his  hips,  they  could  count  thirty- 
seven  terrible  gashes.  His  head  also  was  much  bruised. 
And  this  man,  whose  offence  was  that  he  had  not  loaded 
a  wagon  to  suit  his  overseeryhad  lately  been  emancipated 
by  the  will  of  his  master,  and  was  to  receive  his  freedom 
a  few  weeks  afterwards.  The  partners  sheltered  and 
nursed  him  for  two  days,  and  sought  the  heirs  of  the 
estate  to  expostulate  against  this  cruelty,  but  they  were 
received  with  abuse  and  contempt  for  their  pains.  A  few 
days  later,  while  passing  along  the  street  on  which  their 
office  was  situated,  Garrison  heard,  from  the  upper  story 
ibid.,  oa.  of  a  house,  "  the  distinct  application  of  a  whip,  and  the 
^  I48329'  shrieks  of  anguish"  from  the  victim  which  succeeded 
every  blow.  "This  is  nothing  uncommon/'  he  added,  in 
recording  the  circumstance. 

But  though  in  the  midst  of  the  Philistines,  the  courage 

of  the  two  editors  was  undaunted.     The   brutal   slave- 

Ante.p.gi.    trader,  Woolfolk,  who  had  assaulted   and  nearly  killed 

Lundy,  in  the  street,  three  years  before,  still  had  his  den 

G.  U.E.,     in  Baltimore;  and  when  Garrison  commented  on  the  in- 

1829,  /°62.    consistency  of  the  American  and  Gazette,  which  refused 

his  advertisements  (because  his  cruelty  was  so  notorious) 

while  inserting  those  of  slave  auctions  generally,  "Woolfolk 

ascribed  the  authorship  of  the  paragraph  to  Lundy,  and 


^T.  24-25.]  "THE  GENIUS."  151 

threatened  dire  vengeance.    Garrison  thereupon  retorted    CHAP.  vi. 

in  this  wise  :  1829-30. 

AN    INQUIKY.  C.  <7.  E_t 

I  would  inquire  of  Mr.  Austin  Woolfolk  if  it  was  decent  or  1829,  p.  70. 
manly  in  him,  last  week,  to  multiply  his  curses  and  his  threats 
to  the  senior  editor  of  this  paper,  for  the  insertion  of  a  para 
graph  which  was  written  by  another  —  by  me  ?  Has  he  for 
gotten  his  alphabet  ?  The  letters  "  L."  and  "  G."  attached  to  the 
bottom  of  our  separate  articles  no  more  resemble  each  other 
than  the  persons  of  Lundy  and  Garrison — and  certainly  the 
antithesis  between  them  is  remarkable.  If  he  wishes  to  discuss 
the  subject  of  slavery,  or  to  complain  of  any  slander  of  his 
character,  I  shall  be  happy  to  see  him  at  my  boarding-house, 
No.  135  Market  Street,  where  I  will  endeavor  to  convince  him 
that  he  is  pursuing  a  wicked  traffic ;  or  if  I  fail  in  the  argu 
ment,  I  will  make  a  public  apology  for  my  strictures  upon  his 
conduct.  Let  me  assure  him,  however,  that  I  am  not  to  be  in 
timidated  by  the  utterance  of  any  threats,  or  the  perpetration 
of  any  acts  of  violence.  Dieu  defend  le  droit. — w.  L.  G. 

Garrison  early  declared  against  paying  any  money 
compensation  to  slaveholders  for  emancipating  their 
slaves ;  and  in  reply  to  the  inquiry  of  a  colonizationist, — 
"  Who  can  doubt  that  it  might  be  the  soundest  policy 
to  extinguish  the  master's  claim  throughout  our  terri 
tory  at  the  price  of  six  hundred  millions  of  dollars  f "  he 
said : 

"  We  unhesitatingly  doubt  it,  in  a  moral  point  of  view.  It  ibid.,  Oct.  2, 
would  be  paying  a  thief  for  giving  up  stolen  property,  and  l829>  ^  25- 
acknowledging  that  his  crime  was  not  a  crime.  Once  hold  out 
the  prospect  of  payment  by  the  General  Government,  and  there 
will  soon  be  an  end  to  all  voluntary  emancipation.  Moreover, 
to  rely  upon  private  charities  and  public  donations  for  the 
extinction  of  slavery  is  madness.  If  the  moral  sense  of  the  peo 
ple  will  not  induce  them  to  let  the  oppressed  go  free  without 
money  and  without  price,  depend  upon  it  their  benevolent 
sympathies  will  be  most  unproductive.  No ;  let  us  not  talk  of 
buying  the  slaves  —  justice  demands  their  liberation." 

To  the  same  writer,  who  had  spoken  of  the  "  delicate 
subject"'  of  slavery,  he  replied:  "In  correcting  public 
vices  and  aggravated  crimes,  delicacy  is  not  to  be  con- 


152 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON. 


24-25, 


CHAP.  VI. 
1829-30. 


Hist. 
Slave 
p.  496. 


of  the 

Trade, 


G.  U.  E., 

Oct.  30, 

1829,  p.  58. 


suited.  Slavery  is  a  monster,  and  he  must  be  treated 
as  such  —  hunted  down  bravely,  and  despatched  at  a 
blow." * 

Considerable  space  was  devoted  in  the  Genius  to  ac 
counts  of  a  "Free  Produce  Society"  established  by 
Friends  in  Philadelphia,  for  the  purpose  of  discouraging 
the  purchase  and  use  of  products  of  slave  labor,  and 
thus  restricting  the  growth  of  slavery  by  destroying  the 
market  for  them.  Two  or  three  stores  were  opened  for 
the  sale  of  cotton  and  cotton  goods,  sugar,  molasses,  and 
other  articles,  the  cultivation  and  manufacture  of  which 
were  free  from  any  taint  of  slave  labor,  and  they  re 
ceived  a  moderate  patronage  and  support ;  but  the 
movement  never  assumed  such  proportions  as  in  Eng 
land,  where,  it  was  computed  by  Clarkson,  no  less  than 
three  hundred  thousand  persons  voluntarily  abandoned 
the  use  of  sugar  during  the  struggle  for  the  abolition  of 
the  slave  trade.  Garrison  was  at  this  time  disposed  to  re 
gard  it  with  favor,  and  welcomed  it  as  "  perhaps  the  most 
comprehensive  mode  that  can  be  adopted  to  destroy  the 
growth  of  slavery,  by  rendering  slave  labor  valueless." 

1  The  laissez-faire  method  of  dealing  with  slavery  which  was  commonly 
recommended  by  those  who  discussed  the  subject  —  whether  ministers, 
journalists,  or  politicians  —  has  already  been  illustrated  by  an  abstract  of 
Caleb  Cushing's  article  in  the  Newburyport  Herald  (ante,  p.  45),  and  is  still 
more  strikingly  shown  in  the  reply  of  Hezekiah  Niles  to  an  Eastern  friend 
who  had  sent  him  an  essay  for  his  Register,  in  favor  of  emancipation  with 
out  compensation:  "But  the  great  question  then  presents  itself,  Would 
the  public  good  be  promoted  by  an  emancipation  of  the  slaves  without 
some  efficient  and  costly  provisions  for  essential  changes  in  their  location 
or  condition  ?  Our  own  experience  woiild  give  a  resolute  negative  to  this 
question — much  as  we  are,  and  always  have  been,  opposed  to  the  principle 
and  practice  of  slavery.  .  .  .  We  cannot  entertain  the  idea  that  negro 
slavery  is  to  go  on,  and  on,  and  on,  in  the  United  States  without  limit — 
but  how  to  arrest  it,  we  have  not  yet  been  able  to  discover,  with  benefit  to 
the  slaves  or  safety  to  ourselves.  The  subject  is  beset  with  difficulties  on 
every  side — and  when  not  knowing  what  to  do,  the  most  prudent  way, 
generally,  is  to  stand  still.  But  on  the  other  hand,  if  discussions  and  in 
vestigations  are  avoided,  then  what  should  be  done,  or  might  be  done,  to 
relieve  an  alarming  and  rapidly  increasing  evil,  will  never  be  ascertained" 
(Niles1  Register,  47:4,  Sept.  6,  1834).  Mr.  Niles  had  apparently  failed  to 
discover  that  standing  still  necessitated  keeping  still,  and  stifling  all  inves 
tigation  and  discussion. 


MI. 24-25. j  "THE  GENIUS."  153 

In  the  second  number  of  this  volume  of  the  Genius,    CHAP.  vi. 
Lundy  sounded  a  vigorous  alarm  against  the  plot  just      1829^30. 
being  developed  to  wrest  Texas  from  Mexico,  "for  the     G.  u.  E., 
avowed  purpose  of  adding  five  or  six  more  slaveholding     l8^  ^[ 
States  to  this  Union  "  ;  and  called  upon  the  people  of  the       I3' I4< 
United  States  who  were  opposed  to  slavery  "  to  arouse 
from  their  lethargy  and  nip  the  monstrous  attempt  in 
the  bud."     He   pointed   to   the   fact   that    slavery   had 
already  been  abolished  in  Texas  by  the  Mexican  Gov 
ernment,  and  that  Senator  Benton   and  his   Southern      T/WS.H. 
associates,  who  were  pushing  the  scheme,  were  resolved 
to  re-introduce  slavery,  with  all  its  barbarities,  into  a 
State  now  free.     "  Should  the  territory  be  added  to  the 
Union/'  he  continued,  "  upon  the  condition  that  slavery 
should  still  be  interdicted,  a  great  portion  of  the  colored 
population  in  the  other  States,  at  least  on  this  side  of  the 
Mississippi,   might  be   induced   to   remove   thither.     It 
would  be  the  most  suitable  place  for  them  in  the  world.1 
But  a  greater  curse  could  scarcely  befall  our  country 
than  the  annexation  of  that  immense  territory  to  this 
republic,  if  the  system  of  slavery  should  likewise  be  re 
established  there."  Other  papers  took  up  and  echoed  the 
alarm,  and  joined  in  the  vigorous  protest,  but  the  plot 
against  Texas  was  not  yet  ripe  for  accomplishment. 

The  Genius  urged  the  renewed  circulation  of  petitions 
against  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  though 

1  It  was  a  favorite  idea  of  Lundy's  to  establish  a  colony  for  the  free 
blacks  and  emancipated  slaves  in  Southern  territory.  So  firm  was  his 
belief  that  Texas  was  the  most  appropriate  region  for  it,  that  he  subse 
quently  (between  1831  and  1835)  made  three  journeys  thither,  traversing 
the  country,  living  there  for  months  at  a  time,  falling  back  on  his  saddler's 
trade  for  support  when  his  funds  gave  out,  incurring  constant  peril  from 
disease  or  violence,  yet  laboring  year  after  year,  in  season  and  out  of 
season,  to  obtain  a  grant  of  land  from  the  Mexican  Government  for  his 
colony.  In  1835  he  succeeded  in  securing  a  grant  of  138,000  acres,  on  con 
dition  that  he  should  bring  to  it  two  hundred  and  fifty  settlers  with  their 
families,  and  he  returned  to  the  United  States  to  secure  these  ;  but  the  dis 
turbances  arising  from  the  lawless  Southern  invasion  of  Mexico  put  an  end 
to  his  scheme.  His  journeys  had  no  other  result  than  to  make  him  the 
best  informed  man  in  the  country  in  regard  to  the  Mexican  province,  and 
of  great  assistance  subsequently  to  John  Quincy  Adams  and  the  other 
opponents  of  annexation  in  Congress. 


154  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON.  [^T.  24-25. 


CHAP.  vi.  acknowledging  that  nothing  was  to  be  hoped  for  from 
1829^30.  an  Administration  in  which  six  out  of  eight  members  — 
the  President,  Vice-President,  Secretary  of  War,  Secre 
tary  of  the  Navy,  Attorney-General,  and  Postmaster- 
Greneral  —  were  from  slaveholding  States.  It  also  sup 
ported,  as  a  candidate  for  the  Legislature  from  Baltimore, 
Daniel  Raymond,  who  was  regarded  as  anti-slavery,  but 
he  polled  less  than  200  of  the  more  than  7000  votes  cast. 
Further,  it  gave  much  attention  to  the  proceedings  of 

Oct.,  1829,  to  the  Virginia  Convention  for  the  revision  of  the  State 
constitution,  a  body  remarkable  for  the  number  of  able 
and  distinguished  men  it  contained  5  ex-  Presidents  Mad 
ison  and  Monroe,  and  John  Randolph,  being  among  them. 
As  it  has  always  been  a  favorite  assertion  and  pretence 

G.  T.  Cur-    of  some  Northern  apologists  for  slavery  that  Virginia  and 

*  Buchanan,  Kentucky  were  on  the  verge  of  instituting  schemes  for 
2  :  273-  emancipation  when  the  anti-slavery  agitation  broke  out, 
but  were  alarmed  and  deterred  from  attempting  it  by 
the  violent  and  abusive  spirit  in  which  that  was  con 
ducted,  it  is  worthy  of  note  that  no  proposition  to  this 
end  was  even  broached  in  the  Convention.  The  most  ex 
citing  topic  under  discussion  during  its  sessions  was  the 
demand  of  the  western  portion  of  the  State  that  repre 
sentation  in  the  Legislature  should  be  apportioned  to  the 
several  counties  on  the  basis  of  the  white  population, 
instead  of  on  the  Federal  basis,  as  the  latter,  by  add 
ing  three-fifths  of  all  the  slaves,  gave  an  undue  prepon 
derance  to  the  eastern  counties,  where  the  slaves  were 
far  more  numerous  than  in  the  mountainous  western 
district.  This  was  hotly  debated  for  many  days,  but 
Madison  and  Monroe  threw  their  influence  against  it, 
and  it  was  finally  defeated  by  a  close  vote,  leaving 
the  control  of  the  State  in  the  hands  of  the  slavehold 
ing  section.  It  is  easy  to  see  what  fate  any  scheme  of 
emancipation,  however  remote  and  gradual,  would  have 
met  with  in  such  a  body  ;  and  this  was  more  than 
two  years  before  the  organized  anti-slavery  movement 
began. 


^T. 24-25.]  "THE  GENIUS."  155 

Less  germane  to  the  purpose  of  the  Genius  was  the  CHAP.  vi. 
nullification  debate  between  Hayne  and  Webster  in  the  1829^30. 
Senate;  but  Garrison  could  not  resist  printing  those 
portions  of  Webster's  famous  reply  which  have  become 
classic  in  American  political  and  patriotic  oratory.  To 
the  various  moral  and  philanthropic  questions  in  which 
he  felt  deep  interest, —  temperance,  peace,  the  treatment 
of  the  Indians,  imprisonment  for  debt,  and  the  discoun 
tenancing  of  lotteries, —  he  made  frequent  reference.  He 
found  two  temperance  addresses  which  had  been  sent 
him  for  notice  "  too  cold,  too  didactic,  too  speculative,  to 
create  a  stirring  sensation  in  the  reader,  or  to  rouse  a 
slumbering  community  to  a  just  apprehension  of  its 
danger,'7  and  he  defined  his  own  method  of  dealing  with 
the  subject : 

"  We,  who  are  somewhat  impetuous  in  our  disposition,  and 
singular  in  our  notions  of  reform, —  who  are  so  uncharitable  as 
to  make  no  distinction  between  men  engaged  in  one  common 
traffic,  which  shall  excuse  the  destroyer  of  thousands,  and  heap 
contumely  on  the  murderer  of  a  dozen  —  we  demand  that  the 
whole  truth  be  told,  on  all  occasions,  whether  it  impeaches  this 
man's  reputation  or  injures  that  man's  pursuit;  whether  it 
induces  persecution,  or  occasions  a  breach  of  private  friend 
ship.  If  the  atmosphere  around  us  is  thick  and  contagious, 
must  it  not  be  purified  by  thunder,  and  lightning,  and  storms  ? 
If  we  would  destroy  the  withering  influences  of  the  poisonous 
Upas,  must  we  not  tear  it  up  by  the  roots  ?  We  are  not  con 
tent  with  seeing  proofs  multiplied  that  temperance  is  better 
than  ebriation,  that  a  drunkard  is  a  wretch  without  hope  and 
beyond  rescue,  that  rum  costs  money,  that  i  moderate  drinking 
is  the  downhill  road  to  intemperance.'  No  —  we  go  to  the 
fountain-head  of  the  evil.  If  it  be  injurious,  or  criminal,  or 
dangerous,  or  disreputable  to  drink  ardent  spirits,  it  is  far 
more  so  to  vend,  or  distil,  or  import  this  liquid  fire.  '  Woe 
unto  him  who  putteth  the  cup  to  his  neighbor's  lips'  —  who 
increases  his  wealth  at  the  expense  of  the  bodies  and  souls  of 
men  —  who  takes  away  the  bread  of  the  poor,  and  devours 
the  earnings  of  industry  —  who  scatters  his  poison  through 
the  veins  and  arteries  of  community,  till  even  the  grave  is 
burdened  with  his  victims !  Against  him  must  the  artillery 
of  public  indignation  be  brought  to  bear;  and  the  decree 


156  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKKISON.  [^T.  24-25. 

CHAP.  VI.    must  go  forth,  as  from  the  lips  of  Jehovah,  that  he  who  will 
g  deal  in  the  accursed  article  can  lay  no  claims  to  honesty  of 

purpose  or  holiness  of  life,  but  is  a  shameless  enemy  to  the 
happiness  and  prosperity  of  his  fellow-creatures." 

A  week  after  he  wrote  the  above,  Mr.  Garrison  at 
tended  and  spoke  at  the  formation  of  a  Baltimore  Tem 
perance  Society ;  the  presiding  officer  of  the.  evening 
being  Judge  Nicholas  Brice,  whom  he  was  destined  to 
meet,  a  few  months  later,  in  somewhat,  different  rela 
tions,  growing  out  of  his  "intemperate"  use  of  language 
on  the  subject  of  slavery. 

The  phase  of  the  Indian  question  at  that  time  before 
the  public  was  the  conscienceless  attempt  of  Georgia  to 
dispossess  the  Cherokees  of  the  lands  which  they  held  by 
solemn  treaty  with  the  United  States,  and  to  expel  them 
from  the  State ;  or,  if  they  remained  after  being  robbed 
of  their  homes,  to  tax  them  and  use  their  numbers  (on 
the  three-fifths  basis)  to  swell  the  Federal  representative 
population.  President  Jackson  betrayed  his  sympathy 
with  this  scheme  of  spoliation,  and  was  willing  to  see  the 
State  of  Georgia  set  at  naught  the  treaty  obligations  of 
the  National  Government;  and  in  this,  as  in  all  pre 
vious  and  subsequent  invasions  of  their  sacred  rights, 
the  Indians  had  to  submit  to  be  plundered.  There  were 
many  and  loud  protests  from  the  benevolent  and  philan 
thropic  portions  of  the  community,  and  Mr.  Garrison 
G.  u.  £.,  joined  in  them,  insisting  that  the  nation  should  keep  its 
1829, /.  125.  plighted  faith.  "Expediency  and  policy,77  he  declared, 
"  are  convertible  terms,  full  of  dishonesty  and  oppres 
sion.  Justice  is  eternal,  and  its  demands  cannot  safely 
be  evaded."  Nevertheless,  although  he  was  invoking  the 
aid  of  women  in  the  temperance  and  anti-slavery  move 
ments,  he  was  shocked  when  seven  hundred  women  of 
Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  petitioned  Congress  in  behalf  of  Indian 
Ibid.,  Feb.  rights.  He  declared  it  "out  of  place,"  and  said,  "This 
".'  182°'  is?  in  our  opinion,  an  uncalled-for  interference,  though 
made  with  holiest  intentions.  We  should  be  sorry  to 
have  this  practice  become  general.  There  would  then  be 


^ET.  24-25.]  "  THE   GENIUS."  157 

110  question  agitated  in  Congress  without  eliciting  the    CHAP.  vi. 
informal  and  contrarient  opinions  of  the  softer  sex."1  182^30. 

He  had  not  yet  outgrown  sectarian  narrowness,  and 
he  still  denounced  Paine  and  Jefferson  for  their  "  infi 
delity,"  and  lamented  because  a  fete  was  given  to  La 
fayette  in  France  on  the  Sabbath.  He  could  not  even 
express  his  enthusiastic  admiration  of  Mrs.  Lydia  Maria 
Child's  genius  without  saying  that  he  did  not  like  her  c.  u.  E., 
"religious  notions."  And  yet  he  protested  against  the  1829,  /feo. 


current  religion  in  these  terms  : 

il  With  reverence,  and  in  the  name  of  God.  we  ask,  what  sort  Ibid., 
of  religion  is  now  extant  among  us?  Certainly  not  such  as  iB^l/^ 
cheered  the  prophets  through  the  gloom  of  the  old  dispensation, 
and  constrained  them  to  denounce  the  abominations  of  the 
Jews  $  —  not  such  as  Jesus  Christ  laid  down  his  life  to  vindi 
cate  ]  —  not  such  as  was  preached  by  the  Apostles  and  Martyrs, 
to  their  own  destruction;  —  no,  not  a  whit!  It  is  a  religion 
which  complacently  tolerates  open  adultery,  oppression,  rob 
bery,  and  murder  !  seldom  or  never  lifting  up  a  warning  voice, 
or  note  of  remonstrance,  or  propitiatory  sacrifice  !  —  a  religion 
which  is  graduated  by  the  corrupt,  defective  laws  of  the  State, 
and  not  by  the  pure,  perfect  laws  of  God  !  —  a  religion  which 
quadrates  with  the  natural  depravity  of  the  heart,  giving 
license  to  sin,  restraining  no  lust,  mortifying  not  the  body, 
engendering  selfishness  and  cruelty  !  —  a  religion  which  walks 
in  '  silver  slippers,'  on  a  carpeted  floor,  having  thrown  off  the 
burden  of  the  cross  and  changed  the  garments  of  humiliation 
for  the  splendid  vestments  of  pride  !  —  a  religion  which  has  no 
courage,  no  faithfulness,  no  self-denial,  deeming  it  better  to 
give  heed  unto  men  than  unto  God  !  " 

Early  in  October,  Lundy  went  forth  to  canvass  for 
subscribers,  leaving  Garrison  in  full  charge  of  the  Genius. 
The  latter's  articles  in  favor  of  immediate,  instead  of 
gradual  emancipation,  had  speedily  evoked  letters  of  ex 
postulation  and  remonstrance  from  subscribers,  though 
a  few  approved  and  endorsed  the  doctrine  ;  but,  as  Gar- 

l  Forty  years  later,  his  friend  Mrs.  Abby  Kelley  Foster,  at  a  Woman 
Suffrage  meeting  in  Boston,  laughingly  confronted  him  with  these  long- 
forgotten  words  of  his  ;  to  which  he  rejoined,  "Whereas  I  was  blind,  now 
I  see." 


158 


WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON. 


[JET.  24-25. 


CHAP.  VI. 

1829-30. 
Speech  to 
Franklin 
Club,  Oct. 
14,  1878. 


G.  U.  £., 
Oct.  30, 

1829, /.  59. 


rison  afterwards  described  it,  "  Where  Friend  Lundy 
could  get  one  new  subscriber,  I  could  knock  a  dozen  off, 
and  I  did  so.  It  was  the  old  experiment  of  the  frog  in 
the  well,  that  went  two  feet  up,  and  fell  three  feet  back, 
at  every  jump."  The  diminishing  subscription-list  had 
no  deterrent  effect  upon  the  editors.  Garrison  steadily 
urged  immediatism,  and  replied  vigorously  to  his  critics. 
He  was  strengthened  by  Elizabeth  Heyrick's  admirable 
letters  on  Colonial  Slavery,  and  cheered  by  the  act  of 
President  Guerrero  of  Mexico  in  proclaiming  immediate 
emancipation  to  the  ten  thousand  slaves  in  that  country. 
Of  those  critics  who  declared  that  the  slaves,  if  freed  and 
turned  loose,  would  cut  the  throats  of  their  late  oppress 
ors,  he  exclaimed : 

"  Is  it  worth  our  while  to  reason  with  such  men  ?  Need  they 
be  told,  that  if  fire  be  quenched,  it  cannot  burn  —  if  the  fangs 
of  the  rattlesnake  be  drawn,  he  cannot  be  dangerous  —  if  seed 
be  annihilated,  it  cannot  germinate  ?  Will  they  continue  to 
multiply  their  bugbears,  and  exaggerate  their  idle  fears,  and 
prophesy  evil  things,  and  weary  our  ears  with  their  ridiculous 
cant  ?  If  we  liberate  the  slaves,  and  treat  them  as  brothers 
and  as  men,  shall  we  not  take  away  all  motive  for  rebellion  ? 
And  if  we  persist  in  crushing  them  down  to  the  earth,  and 
lacerating  their  bodies  with  our  whips,  will  they  not  rise  up, 
sooner  or  later,  like  an  army  of  unbound  giants,  and  carry 
rapine  and  slaughter  in  their  path  *?  No — respond  our  sapient 
advisers  and  far-sighted  philanthropists  —  there  will  be  a 
reversal  of  the  case  ! " 

The  twenty-first  biennial  session  of  the  "  American 
Convention  for  the  Abolition  of  Slavery  and  Improve 
ment  of  the  African  Race  in  the  United  States  "  was  held 
in  "Washington  early  in  December,  1829,  a  room  in  the 
City  Hall  being  offered  for  its  sessions  by  the  Mayor  and 
Aldermen.  The  number  of  delegates  present  was  small, 
and  their  proceedings  were  of  little  value,  consisting 
largely  of  a  discussion  of  various  colonization  schemes 
as  a  means  of  abolishing  slavery.  Lundy  was  a  delegate, 
Garrison  remaining  in  Baltimore.  Prior  to  the  assem 
bling  of  the  Convention,  the  Genius  had  announced  the 


^ET.  24-25.]  "  THE   GENIUS."  159 

appointment  of  delegates  to  it  by  various  anti-slavery    CHAP.  vi. 
organizations  in  Baltimore, —  a  "National  Anti-Slavery      1829-30. 
Tract  Society,7'  the  "  First  Baltimore  Branch  of  the  Anti- 
Slavery  Society  of  Maryland,"  and  a  "  Convention  of  the 
Anti-Slavery  Societies  of  Maryland," —  but  these  seem  to 
have  possessed  no  vitality,  and  to  have  had  little  more 
than  "  a  local  habitation  and  a  name."     The  Convention 
adopted  an  Address  to  the  Public,1  and  adjourned  to 
meet  two  years  later. 

An  extraordinary  sensation  was  caused  at  the  South 
during  the  winter  of  1829-30  by  the  appearance  of 
i  Walker's  Appeal,'  a  pamphlet  written  by'  an  obscure 
and  unknown  colored  man  in  Boston,2  who  printed  and 
circulated  it  among  people  of  his  color  as  widely  as  his 
means  would  permit.  It  seems  singular  that  a  produc- 

1  In  this  Address  the  Convention  recapitulated  its  objects  and  methods, 
which  were  substantially  those  of  all  the  State  Societies  of  the  close  of  the 
eighteenth  and  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  centuries.     The  anti-slavery 
sentiment  of  that  period  was  organized,  (1)  with  a  view  to  getting  rid  of 
slavery,  whose  abolition  was  regarded  as  a  foregone  conclusion ;  (2)  to  pro 
tect  the  free  blacks  against  kidnapping  and  reenslavement ;  (3)  to  establish 
schools  for,  and  otherwise  improve  the  condition  of,  the  colored  people. 
It  was  satisfied  with  gradual  emancipation  (as  in  Pennsylvania),  and  with 
the  prohibition  of    slave  importations.     Its  sense  of  responsibility  for 
slavery  was  chiefly  for  that  under  its  own  eyes  and  in  its  own  State.     Its 
mode  of  action  was  confined  to  memorials  to  legislative  bodies  and  gover 
nors,  and  to  the  courts.     It  did  not  feel  that  responsibility  for  slavery 
everywhere  which  Garrison  was i^ao'w  seeking  to  enforce,  nor  did  it,  while 
attacking  slavery  on  grounds  adopted  by  him,  personally  arraign  the  slave 
holder,  hold  him  criminal  for  not  immediately  emancipating  his  slaves,  and 
seek  to  make  him  odious  and  put  him  beyond  the  pale  of  intercourse. 
Hence  its  failure  to  awaken  any  interest  in  the  public  mind,  or  to  disturb 
the  consciences  and  peace  of  the  slaveholders. 

2  David  Walker  was  born  in  Wilmington,  North  Carolina,  Sept.  28,  1785, 
of  a  free  mother  and  a  slave  father,  following,  by  slave  law,  the  condition 
of  the  former.     He  travelled  extensively  through  the  South,  regarding  the 
degradation  and  sufferings  of  his  race  with  a  bitter  sympathy,  acquired  a 
sufficient  education,  and  read  and  pondered  such  general  historical  works 
as  were  procurable.     At  the  age  of  forty-two,  being  then  a  resident  of 
Boston,  he  opened  a  store  on  Brattle  Street  for  the  sale  of  second-hand 
clothes.     From  this  unpromising  laboratory  there  issued,  two  years  later, 
an  octavo  pamphlet  of  76  pp.,  now  very  rare,  entitled  '  Walker's  Appeal,  in 
four  articles,  together  with  a  Preamble  to  the  Colored  Citizens  of  the 
World,  but  in  particular,  and  very  expressly,  to  those  of  the  United  States 
of  America.     Written  in  Boston,  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  Sept.  28th, 


160  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON.  [^ET.  24-25. 


CHAP.  vi.  tion  so  original,  able,  and  important,.  coming  from  such 
1829^30.  a  source,  should  not  have  been  promptly  noticed  in  the 
Genius,  even  if  critically  and  with  exceptions  ;  but  it  was 
not  until  the  Richmond  Whig  had  reported,  with  ridicule, 
the  secret  session  of  the  Virginia  Legislature  to  consider 
a  message  from  Governor  Giles  on  the  subject,  and  the 
Savannah  Georgian  had  announced  similar  action  on  the 
part  of  Governor  Gilmer  and  the  Georgia  Legislature, 
that  Garrison  alluded  to  it  in  any  way.  After  copying 
the  two  articles  above  referred  to,  he  said  : 

G.  U.  E.,  "  We  have  had  this  pamphlet  on  our  table  for  some  time  past, 
1830*0  Ji47  an(^  are  n°t  surprised  at  its  effect  upon  our  sensitive  Southern 

1829.  Boston:  Published  by  David  Walker.  1829.'  The  author  had  already 
delivered  an  address  before  the  General  Colored  Association  of  Boston, 
which  was  printed  in  Freedom's  Journal,  Dec.  20,  1828.  He  now  iirged  the 
free  colored  people  to  make  the  slave's  cause  their  concern,  as  inseparably 
connected  with  their  own  condition,  and  to  aspire  to  be  something  more 
than  barbers  and  bootblacks.  His  first  article  set  forth  "  Our  wretched 
ness  in  consequence  of  slavery";  his  second,  "  Our  wretchedness  in  conse 
quence  of  ignorance"  ;  his  third,  "  Our  wretchedness  in  consequence  of  the 
preachers  of  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ";  his  fourth,  "Our  wretchedness 
in  consequence  of  the  colonizing  plan."  This  last  was  so  full  and  thorough 
an  exposure  of  the  animus  of  the  Colonization  Society  that  it  might  almost 
seem  to  have  been  the  leading  motive  of  the  pamphlet.  But  Jefferson's 
disparaging  estimate  of  the  capacity  of  the  negro  is  also  examined  and 
confuted  at  such  length  as  to  entitle  his  'Notes  on  Virginia'  to  be  con 
sidered  at  least  equally  the  occasion  of  the  'Appeal.'  Its  tone  was  dis 
tinctly  religious  and  prophetic.  "For  although  the  destruction  of  the 
oppressors  God  may  not  effect  by  the  oppressed,  yet  the  Lord  our  God 
will  bring  other  destructions  upon  them  —  for  not  unfrequently  will  he 
cause  them  to  rise  up  one  against  another,  to  be  split,  divided,  and  to 
oppress  each  other,  and  sometimes  to  open  hostilities  with  sword  in  hand  " 
(p.  5).  The  meek  and  unresisting  character  of  the  blacks  was  sternly  cen 
sured  ;  but  while  contending  for  the  right  of  self-defence,  Walker  coun 
selled  entire  forgiveness  of  the  past  if  the  slaveholders  would  let  their 
victims  go  in  peace.  The  pamphlet  ended  with  quotations  from  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  and  some  Methodistical  hymns. 

It  had  at  once  so  great  a  vogue  that  a  second  edition  was  called  for,  and, 
reaching  the  South,  it  produced  much  consternation  among  the  whites, 
especially  in  the  seaboard  slave  States,  where  incoming  vessels  were 
searched  for  it.  On  Dec.  12,  1829,  the  Mayor  of  Savannah  addressed  the 
Mayor  of  Boston  (Harrison  Gray  Otis)  with  reference,  as  would  appear,  to 
the  possible  punishment  of  the  author.  Mayor  Otis  replied  that,  "not 
withstanding  the  extremely  bad  and  inflammatory  tendency  of  the  pub 
lication,"  the  author  had  not  made  himself  amenable  to  the  laws  of 
Massachusetts  ;  that  he  was  an  old-clothes  dealer,  and  openly  avowed  to  an 
emissary  from  the  Mayor's  office  the  sentiments  of  his  book,  declaring  that 


MT.  24-25.]  "  THE   GENIUS."  161 

brethren.    It  is  written  by  a  colored  Bostonian,  and  breathes    CHAP.  VI. 
the  most  impassioned  and  determined  spirit.    We  deprecate  its 
circulation,  though  we  cannot  but  wonder  at  the  bravery  and 
intelligence  of  its  author.     The  editor  of  the  Whig  must  not 
laugh  at  Governor  Giles :  his  alarm  was  natural." 

In  a  subsequent  number  of  the  Genius  lie  again  spoke  G.  u.  £., 
of  it  as  "  a  most  injudicious  publication,  yet  warranted  i830%2i95 
by  the  creed  of  an  independent  people." 

The  law  passed  by  the  Georgia  Legislature  prohibited 
the  admission  of  free  colored  persons  into  the  ports  of 
the  State,  declared  "  the  circulation  of  pamphlets  of  evil 
tendency  among  our  domestics 7?  a  capital  offence,  and 

he  meant  to  circulate  it  by  mail  at  his  own  expense,  if  need  be.  Mayor 
Otis  expressed  his  determination  to  warn  sea-captains  and  others  of  the 
consequences  of  transporting  incendiary  writings  into  the  Southern  States. 
He  sent  (February  10,  1830)  a  copy  of  this  letter  to  Governor  Giles  of  Vir 
ginia,  at  the  same  time  belittling  the  weight  of  the  'Appeal,'  from  "the 
insignificance  of  the  writer,  tfie  extravagance  of  his  sanguinary  fanati 
cism,"  and  "  the  very  partial  circulation"  of  the  book,  which  had  caused 
no  excitement  in  Boston.  The  Governor  submitted  these  documents  to 
the  House  of  Delegates  on  February  16,  and  the  communication  was  laid 
on  the  table.  (See  Richmond  Enquirer,  Feb.  18,  1830,  and  Boston  Courier, 
Feb.  26;  the  Abolitionist,  monthly,  1:98  ;  Williams's  'History  of  the  Negro 
Eace  in  America/  2:553.) 

From  internal  evidence  it  appears  that  the  third  edition  of  the  '  Appeal ' 
was  published  shortly  after  March  6,  1830.  It  was  wholly  reset,  and  con 
tained  many  corrections  and  important  additions,  both  to  the  body  of  the 
text  and  in  the  shape  of  notes.  The  additions  were  for  the  most  part 
explicitly  indicated,  and  were  designedly  of  a  character  to  justify  the 
epithet  "  sanguinary"  applied  by  Mayor  Otis.  They  favored  a  servile 
insurrection  as  soon  as  the  way  was  clear  ;  the  superiority  of  the  blacks  in 
numbers  and  their  greater  (historic)  bravery  in  battle  being  dwelt  upon, 
Walker  also  insisted  more  plainly  on  his  having  had  a  divine  commission 
to  write,  and  in  truth  he  may  be  regarded  as  a  sort  of  John  the  Baptist  to 
the  new  an ti- slavery  dispensation.  It  is  curious  that  no  allusion  is  made 
in  the  'Appeal'  to  Lundy's  labors  on  behalf  of  the  slave.  Walker  did  not 
long  survive  the  third  edition  of  his  pamphlet,  dying  on  June  28,  1830 — 
some  thought  by  foul  play,  as  a  price  was  set  upon  his  head  at  the  South ; 
but  this  surmise  was  incorrect.  His  noble  intensity,  pride,  disgust,  fierce 
ness,  his  eloquence  and  his  general  intellectual  abOity,  have  not  been 
commemorated  as  they  deserve.  (See  May's  '  Recollections,'  p.  133,  and 
Lib.,  1:17.)  He  is  a  unique  figure  in  the  anti-slavery  movement.  The 
late  Rev.  Henry  Highland  Garnet  reprinted  the  'Appeal'  in  1858,  but  this 
edition  has  become  as  scarce  as  the  original.  A  copy  of  the  third  edition  is 
in  the  May  Collection  at  Cornell  University,  inscribed  "Rev.  Samuel  J. 
May,  from  his  friend  and  admirer,  Wm.  Lloyd  Garrison."  Mr.  Garrison 
was  never  acquainted  with  Walker. 

VOL.  L— 11 


162  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GAKKISON.  [^T.  24-25. 

CHAP.  vi.  made  penal  the  teaching  of  free  colored  persons  or  slaves 
1829-30.  to  read  or  write  j  and  it  was  rushed  through  in  a  single 
day  on  the  discovery  of  Walker's  incendiary  pamphlet. 
The  Virginia  House  of  Delegates  passed  a  similar  bill  a 
few  weeks  later,  but  it  was  defeated  in  the  Senate.  "  The 
circulation  of  this  i  seditious ?  pamphlet/7  said  Garrison, 

G.  u.  £.,     in  the  last  number  (for  him)  of  the  Genius,  uhas  proven 

1830^.202.  °ne  thing  conclusively — that  the  boasted  security  of 
the  slave  States,  by  their  orators  and  writers,  is  mere 
affectation,  or  something  worse." 

With  a   diminishing   subscription-list   and  trivial  re 
mittances  from  those  subscribers  who  still  consented  to 
receive  the  Genius,  it  was  evident  that  some  change  would 
be  necessary  at  the  end  of  the  first  half-year.     Lundy 
lbid^       remarked  in  one  issue  that  good  wishes  were  so  abundant 

iSao2/2^    ^at  they  were  "  not  worth  picking  up  in  the  street,"  and 
informed  those  who  were  so  prodigal  of  them  that  they 
must  give  them  a  substantial  form  to  prove  their  sin 
cerity.     Garrison,  in  a  later  number,  betrayed  the  inevi- 
ibid.,       table  result  of  their  experiment  when  he  stated  that, 

1830^.^58.  though  their  terms  required  payment  in  advance,  the 
voluntary  remittances  of  their  subscribers  for  more  than 
four  months  had  not  exceeded  fifty  dollars,  while  their 
weekly  expenses  were  at  least  that  amount ;  and,  in  the 
personal  meditations  in  which  he  indulged  on  the  com- 
ibid.,  pletion  of  his  twenty-fourth  year,  he  mentioned  that  he 

JaHi>  ^333°'  was  so  seldom  troubled  with  bits  of  silver,  he  had  not 
deemed  it  a  piece  of  economy  to  buy  so  useless  an  article 
as  a  purse. 

Hitherto  the  partners  had  struggled  constantly  against 
poverty  and  the  indifference  of  the  public  to  their  cause. 
Conducting  their  labors  in  a  slave  State,  they  had  natu 
rally  experienced  various  forms  of  persecution,  but  it 
remained  for  a  Northern  man  to  institute  an  attack  on 
the  Genius  and  its  editors  which  the  community  was 
ready  and  eager  to  make  effective.  This,  if  it  did  not 
hasten,  at  least  insured,  the  discontinuance  of  the  paper 
as  conducted  by  them. 


JET.  24-25.] 


"THE  GENIUS." 


163 


In  a  department  of  the  Genius  which  he  styled  the 
"  Black  List,"  and  which  bore  at  its  head  the  figure  of  a 
chained  and  kneeling  negro,1  with  the  motto,  "  Am  I  not 
a  Man  and  a  Brother?"  Mr.  Garrison  recorded  each  week 
some  of  the  terrible  incidents  of  slavery, —  instances  of 
cruelty  and  torture,  cases  of  kidnapping,  advertisements 
of  slave  auctions,  and  descriptions  of  the  horrors  of  the 
foreign  and  domestic  slave  trade.  By  common  consent 
of  the  principal  maritime  nations,  the  foreign  slave  trade 
was  now  adjudged  felony,  and  their  navies  united  in 
efforts  for  its  suppression.  When  the  additional  term  of 
twenty  years  allowed  it  by  the  iniquitous  compromise 
clause  in  the  United  States  Constitution  had  expired,  the 
bill  forbidding  its  continuance,  which  Congress  promptly 
passed,  received  general  support,  even  the  Southern  mem 
bers  voting  for  it,  after  securing  certain  modifications. 
The  traffic  went  on,  nevertheless,  and  it  was  estimated 
that  as  many  as  twelve  or  fifteen  thousand  kidnapped 
Africans  were  annually  smuggled  into  this  country  in 
defiance  of  law.2  The  willing  consent  of  some  of  the 
Southern  States  to  the  legal  prohibition  of  the  foreign 
slave  trade  was  notoriously  owing  less  to  conscientious 
scruples  against  the  traffic,  than  to  the  fact  that  they 
saw  an  opportunity  of  making  greater  gains  through  a 
domestic  slave  trade,  based  on  the  deliberate  and  syste 
matic  breeding  of  slaves  in  Virginia  and  the  Northern 
tier  of  slave  States,  for  the  Southern  market.  The 
deadly  influences  of  the  climate  in  the  Gulf  States,  the 
terrible  hardships  of  plantation  labor  in  the  cotton  fields, 

1  This  figure,  originally  designed  for  the  seal  of  the  Committee  for  the 
Abolition  of  the  Slave  Trade,  in  October,  1787,  had  a  powerful  influence  in 
kindling  anti-slavery  sentiment  in  Great  Britain,  and  was,  with  its  direct 
and  pathetic  appeal,  no  less  an  inspiration  and  incentive  to  the  American 
abolitionists.    (See  Clarkson's  '  History  of  the  Slave  Trade,'  Chapter  XX.) 

2  How  thoroughly  the  prohibition  was  disregarded  can  be  judged  from 
the  fact,  that  although  the  law  required  the  forfeiture  to  the  Government 
of  all  slaves  illegally  imported  after  1807,  the  Register  of  the  Treasury  was 
obliged  to  confess,  in  1819,  that  of  more  than  a  hundred  thousand  thus  in 
troduced  up  to  that  time,  not  one  had  been  forfeited.     Frequent  record  of 
the  capture  of  slavers  by  English  vessels  was  made  in  the  Genius. 


CHAP.  VI. 
1829-30. 


Wilson  s 
Rise  and 
Fa II  of  the 
Slave  Pow 
er,  i :  102, 
103. 


164  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKKISON.  [^T.  24-25. 


CHAP.  vi.  the  cane-brakes,  and  the  rice  swamps,  caused  a  high  rate 
1829^30.  of  mortality,  retarded  the  increase  of  population,  and 
created  a  constant  demand  for  fresh  victims  ;  and  these 
it  was  found  more  safe  and  profitable  to  import  from 
Virginia  than  from  Africa,  the  mortality  of  the  inland  or 
coastwise  transportation  being  far  less  than  that  of  the 
ocean  passage.  Likewise  the  risks  of  a  traffic  sanctioned 
and  protected  by  the  State  and  National  Governments 
were  trivial  compared  with  those  of  a  trade  outlawed  by 
the  civilized  world. 

And  yet  the  difference  between  the  domestic  and  for 
eign  slave  trade  was  only  one  of  degree,1  and  in  many 
respects  the  former  equalled  and  even  exceeded  the  latter 
in  its  dreadful  features.  Comes  of  slaves,  chained  to 
gether  and  driven  under  the  lash,  were  constantly  wend 
ing  their  way  on  foot,  under  the  scorching  sun,  along  the 
Southern  highways  to  the  distant  States  of  Tennessee, 
Mississippi,  Louisiana,  and  Alabama,  or  were  conveyed 
in  steamers  down  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers,  or  in 
sailing  vessels  along  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  coasts  to 
New  Orleans,  the  great  slave  mart  of  the  South.  The 
arrivals  of  these  cargoes  of  living  freight  were  reported 
in  the  newspapers  as  unblushingly  as  if  they  had  been 
cattle,  or  bales  of  cotton,  or  other  merchandise.2 

Ub  •  i  Fully  fifty  thousand  slaves  a  year,  it  was  estimated, 
were  sold  and  transported  from  one  State  to  another,  in 
this  infernal  traffic,  whose  victims,  torn  from  their  kindred 
and  friends,  and  the  homes  in  which  they  had  been  liter 
ally  "bred"  and  born  (often  having  the  blood  of  their 
masters  in  their  veins),  went  forth  with  hearts  full  of 
despair  to  what  they  believed  to  be  a  certain,  slow  and 
torturous  death.  Not  infrequently  they  chose  instant 

1  Any  coast  slave-trader,  indeed,  which  came  within  British  jurisdiction, 
was  as  liable  to  forfeit  its  human  freight  as  a  foreign  cruiser,  and  this 
happened  to  one  such,  the  Enterprise,  driven  into  Bermuda  by  stress  of 
weather  (Lib.  5  :  47,  51,  85). 

2  In  a  single  week—  that  ending  Oct.  16,  1831  —  371  slaves  were  landed  in 
New  Orleans,  chiefly  from  Alexandria,  Norfolk,  and  Charleston  (Niles' 
Register,  Nov.  26,  1831). 


^T.  24-25.]  "  THE   GENIUS."  165 

death  by  suicide  in  preference.  Alexandria,  Baltimore,  CHAP.  vi. 
and  Norfolk  were  the  ports  from  which  the  Maryland  i32^3o. 
and  Virginia  slaves  were  chiefly  shipped ;  and  as  Lundy's 
soul  had  been  stirred  within  him  by  the  sight  of  the 
daily  processions  of  manacled  slaves  before  his  door  at 
Wheeling,  so  now  was  Garrison's  indignation  aroused 
by  this  constant  exportation  of  hapless  victims  to  the 
Southern  markets.  The  discovery  that  a  Massachusetts 
man,  and  one  of  his  own  townsmen,  was  implicated  in  it 
elicited  his  prompt  and  stinging  rebuke.  In  the  Genius 
of  November  13  he  wrote,  under  the  "  Black  List,"  as 
follows : 

DOMESTIC    SLAVE   TRADE.  G.  U.  £., 

Nov.  13, 
This  horrible  traffic  continues  to  be  pursued  with  unabated    1829,  p.  75. 

alacrity.  Scarcely  a  vessel,  perhaps,  leaves  this  port  for  New 
Orleans  without  carrying  off  in  chains  large  numbers  of  the 
unfortunate  blacks.  The  ship  Francis,  Brown,  which  sailed 
hence  a  few  weeks  since,  transported  seventy-five.  This  vessel 
hails  from  my  native  place  (Newburyport,  Mass.),  and  belongs 
to  Francis  Todd. —  So  much  for  New  England  principle!  — 
Next  week  I  shall  allude  more  particularly  to  this  damning 
affair. 

Following  this  was  an  account  of  another  ship,  not 
Todd's,  which  had  just  sailed  for  New  Orleans  with  115 
slaves.  The  next  week,  true  to  his  promise,  he  returned 
to  the  subject  of 

THE   SHIP   FKANCIS.  Ibid., 

Nov.  20, 
This  ship,  as  I  mentioned  in  our  last  number,  sailed  a  few    1829,  p.  83. 

weeks  since  from  this  port  with  a  cargo  of  slaves  for  the  New 
Orleans  market.  I  do  not  repeat  the  fact  because  it  is  a  rare 
instance  of  domestic  piracy,  or  because  the  case  was  attended 
with  extraordinary  circumstances ;  for  the  horrible  traffic  is 
briskly  carried  on,  and  the  transportation  was  effected  in  the 
ordinary  manner.  I  merely  wish  to  illustrate  New  England 
humanity  and  morality.  I  am  resolved  to  cover  with  thick 
infamy  all  who  were  concerned  in  this  nefarious  business. 

I  have  stated  that  the  ship  Francis  hails  from  my  native 
place,  Newburyport,  (Massachusetts,)  is  commanded  by  a  Yan 
kee  captain,  and  owned  by  a  townsman  named 
FRANCIS    TODD. 


166  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON.  [^T.  24-25. 


CHAP.  VI.  Of  Captain  Nicholas  Brown  I  should  have  expected  better 
1829^30  conduct.  It  is  no  worse  to  fit  out  piratical  cruisers,  or  to  en 
gage  in  the  foreign  slave  trade,  than  to  pursue  a  similar  trade 
along  our  own  coasts  ;  and  the  men  who  have  the  wickedness 
to  participate  therein,  for  the  purpose  of  heaping  up  wealth, 
should  be  ISP  SENTENCED  TO  SOLITARY  CONFINEMENT  FOR 
LIFE  ;  ,^11  they  are  the  enemies  of  their  own  species  —  highway 
robbers  and  murderers;  and  their  final  doom  will  be,  unless  they 
speedily  repent,  to  occupy  the  lowest  depths  of  perdition.  I  know 
that  our  laws  make  a  distinction  in  this  matter.  I  know  that 
the  man  who  is  allowed  to  freight  his  vessel  with  slaves  at 
home,  for  a  distant  market,  would  be  thought  worthy  of  death 
if  he  should  take  a  similar  freight  on  the  coast  of  Africa  5  but 
I  know,  too,  that  this  distinction  is  absurd,  and  at  war  with 
the  common  sense  of  mankind,  and  that  God  and  good  men 
regard  it  with  abhorrence. 

I  recollect  that  it  was  always  a  mystery  in  Newburyport  how 
Mr.  Todd  contrived  to  make  profitable  voyages  to  New  Orleans 
and  other  places,  when  other  merchants,  with  as  fair  an  oppor 
tunity  to  make  money,  and  sending  to  the  same  ports  at  the 
same  time,  invariably  made  fewer  successful  speculations.  The 
mystery  seems  to  be  unravelled.  Any  man  can  gather  up  riches 
if  he  does  not  care  by  what  means  they  are  obtained. 

The  Francis  carried  off  seventy-five  slaves,  chained  in  a  narrow 
place  between  decks.  Capt.  Brown  originally  intended  to  take 
one  hundred  and  fifty  of  these  unfortunate  creatures  j  but  another 
hard-hearted  shipmaster  underbid  him  in  the  price  of  passage 
for  the  remaining  moiety.  Capt.  B.,  we  believe,  is  a  mason. 
Where  was  his  charity  or  brotherly  kindness  *? 

I  respectfully  request  the  editor  of  the  Newburyport  Herald 

to  copy  this  article,  or  publish  a  statement  of  the  facts  con 

tained  herein  —  not  for  the  purpose  of  giving  information  to 

Cf.  ante,      Mr.  Todd,  for  I  shall  send  him  a  copy  of  this  number,  but  in 

/>.  114.       order  to  enlighten  the  public  mind  in  that  quarter.  —  G. 

The  editor  of  the  Newburyport  Herald  did  not  comply 
with  this  request,  not  deeming  it  prudent  to  offend  so 
respectable  and  influential  a  citizen  as  Mr.  Todd  by  in 
forming  his  townsmen  what  manner  of  freight  he  author 
ized  his  vessel  to  carry  ;  and  it  is  probable  that  the  fact 
would  have  been  little  known  and  soon  forgotten  if  Mr. 
Todd  himself  had  been  able  to  restrain  his  wrath  and 


^T. 24-25.]  "THE  GENIUS."  167 

keep  silence.     Unhappily  for  him,  he  could  not.     This    CHAP.  vi. 
first  direct,   ad-hominem  blow  at  Northern   complicity      1829^30. 
with  slavery  stung  him  to  the  quick,1  and  he  soon  took 
measures  to  bring  his  accuser  to  punishment. 

The  Genius  of  January  8,  1830,  contained  this  brief 
announcement : 

"A  suit  has  been  commenced  against  the  Editors  of  this 
paper,  by  Mr.  Francis  Todd,  of  Newburyport,  (Mass.,)  for  an 
alleged  libel  published  in  our  Black  List  Department  of  Nov. 
20,  1829.  Damages  laid  at  $5000.  Our  strictures  were  predi 
cated  upon  the  sound  proverb  —  Qui  non  vetat  peccare  cum  possit, 


Mr.  Todd  was  not  left  to  conduct  his  attack  single- 
handed.  A  few  weeks  after  notice  of  his  suit  had  been 
served,  there  came  the  following  presentment  from  the 
Grand  Jury : 

BALTIMORE  CITY  COURT,  February  Term,  1830. 
The  Grand  Jurors  of  the  State  of  Maryland,  for  the  body  of 
the  City  of  Baltimore,  on  their  oaths  do  present,  that  Benja 
min  Lundy  and  William  Lloyd  Garrison  did,  in  a  certain 
newspaper  printed  and  published  in  the  City  of  Baltimore,  on 
the  20th  day  of  November  last,  called  the  Genius  of  Universal 
Emancipation,  publish  a  gross  and  malicious  libel  against 
Francis  Todd  and  Nicholas  Brown. 

Witnesses,  H.  W.  EVANS,  Foreman. 

Henry  Thompson, 
John  W.  Thompson. 

True  Copy  from  the  original  Presentment. 
Teste, 

Wm.  Medcalf,  Clerk  Baltimore  City  Court. 

1  A  similar  sensitiveness  was  betrayed  by  some  Northern  members  of 
Congress  on  the  adoption  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Jefferson, 
in  his  autobiographical  '  Memoir  of  the  Convention'  (p.  15,  ed.  1830),  makes 
this  record:  "The  clause,  too,  reprobating  the  enslaving  the  inhabitants 
of  Africa  was  struck  out  in  compliance  to  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  who 
had  never  attempted  to  restrain  the  importation  of  slaves,  and  who,  on  the 
contrary,  still  wished  to  continue  it.  Our  Northern  brethren  also,  I  be 
lieve,  felt  a  little  tender  under  these  censures  ;  for  though  their  people  had 
very  few  slaves,  themselves,  yet  they  had  been  pretty  considerable  carriers 
of  them  to  others." 


168  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKKISON.  [^T.  24-25. 


CHAP.  vi.  This  was  filed  on  the  19th  of  February,  and  an  .action 
1829^30.  in  accordance  therewith  was  promptly  entered  by  the 
State  of  Maryland  against  the  editors  of  the  Genius, 
charging  them  with  u  contriving  and  unlawfully,  wick 
edly,  and  maliciously  intending,  to  hurt,  injure  and 
vilify  "  Todd,  "  and  to  deprive  him  of  his  good  name, 
fame  and  reputation,  and  to  bring  him  into  great  con 
tempt,  scandal,  infamy,  and  disgrace,  to  the  evil  example 
of  all  others  in  like  manner  offending,  and  against  the 
peace,  government  and  dignity  of  the  State."  The  case 
was  pressed  to  an  early  trial,  on  the  first  day  of  March,  the 
counsel  for  the  prosecution  being  Jonathan  Meredith  and 
R.  W.  Gill,  while  the  defence  was  conducted  by  Charles 
Mitchell,  one  of  the  most  brilliant  and  able  members  of 
the  Baltimore  bar.  Although  a  stranger  to  Garrison  (on 
whom,  as  the  author  of  the  obnoxious  article,  the  brunt 
of  the  trial  fell),  he  generously  volunteered  his  services 
as  counsel,  refusing  all  compensation,  and  defended  him 
in  a  brave  and  masterly  manner.1 

The  counsel  for  the  prosecution,  finding  that  the  extracts 
from  the  libellous  article  which  they  had  incorporated  in 
their  indictment  were  too  weak  to  rest  their  case  upon, 
sought  to  have  the  entire  article  read  to  the  jury,  to 
prove  the  malicious  intent  of  the  writer,  which  was  done, 
the  court  (Judge  Nicholas  Brice)  overruling  the  objec 
tions  of  the  defendant's  counsel  that  according  such 
liberty  to  a  plaintiff  was  utterly  without  precedent. 
The  witnesses  were  Mr.  Henry  Thompson  (Mr.  Todd's 
agent),  the  Pilot  of  the  Francis,  the  Customs  officers,  and 
the  printers  of  the  Genius,  the  latter  being  called  to 
acknowledge  that  they  had  printed  the  paper  containing 
the  alleged  libel  ;  but  no  evidence  was  offered  to  show 
that  the  defendant  had  printed  or  published,  or  written 

l  "  Of  his  attainments  as  a  lawyer,"  wrote  Mr.  Garrison,  in  noticing  his 
death,  a  year  later,  "  the  fertility  and  amplitude  of  his  mind,  and  the  sweet 
ness  and  energy  of  his  eloquence,  it  is  difficult  to  speak  in  sober  terms. 
The  benevolence  of  his  heart  was  as  expansive  as  the  ocean."  Mr.  Mitchell 
was  a  native  of  Connecticut,  and  a  son  of  Judge  Stephen  Mitchell  of  that 
State  (Ub.  1:111). 


Mi.  24-25.]  "  THE   GENIUS."  169 

or  caused  to  be  written,  the  obnoxious  article.  The  CHAP.  vi. 
Pilot  testified  that  eighty-eight  slaves  (thirteen  more  than  182^30. 
had  been  stated  in  the  Genius) — men,  women  and  chil 
dren  — were  received  on  board  the  Francis  at  Annapolis ; 
and  Mr.  Thompson,  who  had  acted  as  Todd's  agent  for 
many  years,  acknowledged  that,  while  he  had  contracted 
for  the  transportation  of  slaves  before  consulting  Mr. 
Todd,  he  had  immediately  written  to  the  latter,  stating 
the  conditions  on  which  the  contract  was  made.  "Mr. 
Todd,  in  reply,  said  he  should  have  preferred  another  kind 
of  freight,  but  as  freights  were  dull,  times  hard,  and  money 
scarce,  he  was  satisfied  ivith  the  bargain."  The  slaves  were 
purchased  by  a  planter  of  New  Orleans,  named  Miliighan, 
of  whom  Thompson  (and  also  Judge  Brice)  spoke  in 
warm  terms.  He  likewise  testified  that  Captain  Brown 
was  a  humane  man,  by  whom  the  slaves  were  doubtless 
kindly  treated  on  the  passage.1 

The  defence  deemed  it  unnecessary  to  offer  further 
evidence,  having  proved  the  shipment  of  slaves  on  the 
Francis,  and  Mr.  Todd's  ownership  of  the  vessel  being 

l  That  Captain  Brown  was  personally  a  kind  and  humane  man  was  un 
doubtedly  true,  and  that  Mr.  Garrison  had  esteemed  him  up  to  this  time  is 
apparent  from  his  expression  of  surprise  and  regret,  in  the  " libellous" 
article,  that  one  of  whom  he  "  should  have  expected  better  conduct "  should 
be  in  any  way  implicated  in  the  involuntary  transportation,  from  their 
homes  and  kindred,  of  those  whose  right  to  liberty  was  as  clear  and  sacred 
as  his  own.  It  is  a  fact,  which  did  not  come  out  at  the  trial,  and  of  which 
Mr.  Garrison  himself  was  probably  never  aware,  that  these  helpless  victims 
whom  Mr.  Todd  consented,  in  view  of  the  "hard  times,  dull  freights,  and 
scarce  money,"  to  receive  as  freight  and  cargo,  had  the  utmost  horror  of 
being  carried  South,  and  secreted  themselves  in  the  woods  to  escape  going. 
They  were  hunted,  captured,  and  driven  aboard  in  a  half -naked  condition, 
as  Captain  Brown  himself  narrated,  and  so  utterly  destitute  were  they  that 
the  agent  of  Miliighan,  their  new  master,  sent  bales  of  clothing  aboard  for 
them.  Needles  and  thread  were  provided  for  the  women,  the  Captain 
further  stated,  the  entire  space  between  decks  was  given  to  the  slaves,  and 
a  prayer-meeting  was  held  by  them  every  day.  When  they  reached  their 
destination  (on  the  Mississippi  river,  below  New  Orleans),  they  expressed 
their  gratitude  to  Captain  Brown  for  his  kindness  to  them,  and  when,  later, 
on  his  return  down  the  river  from  New  Orleans,  he  anchored  off  the  plan 
tation,  they  again  thanked  him  and  professed  themselves  satisfied  with 
their  new  home.  "It  was  one  of  the  happiest  hours  of  my  father's  long 
life,"  writes  a  daughter  of  Captain  Brown,  in  the  Southern  Workman,  May, 
1883,  "as  I  have  often  heard  him  say, — and  further,  that  there  was  no  act 


170  '  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAEKISON.  [&?•  24-25. 

CHAP.  vi.  admitted.  Mr.  Mitchell  made  an  eloquent  plea  in  behalf 
1829^30.  of  his  client,  addressing  the  jury  for  nearly  two  hours. 
"  Indignation  and  shame  for  the  continuance  of  the 
accursed  traffic  in  human  flesh,"  wrote  Mr.  Garrison  in 
describing  it,  "  sympathy  for  the  poor  victims  of  oppres 
sion,  love  for  the  cause  of  universal  liberty,  kindled  his 
feelings  into  a  blaze.  His  eloquence  f  was  a  torrent  that 
carried  everything  before  it.  He  thundered — he  light 
ened.'  "  He  declared  that  the  law  of  libel  was  "  the  last 
and  most  successful  engine  of  tyranny,  and  had  done 
more  to  perpetuate  public  abuses,  and  to  check  the 
march  of  reform,  than  any  other  agent";  dwelt  upon 
the  inconsistency  of  the  Government  which  tolerated 
the  domestic  slave  trade  while  treating  the  foreign  traffic 
as  piracy  ;  and  pointed  out  the  fatal  defect  in  the  indict 
ment,  which  showed  no  libel  upon  Mr.  Todd,  quoted 
nothing  from  the  article  to  implicate  or  charge  him  with 
being  privy  or  consenting  to  the  transportation  of 
slaves,  and  merely  stated  the  fact  of  his  ownership  of 
the  vessel.  The  postulate  assumed  by  the  writer  of  the 
article,  that  the  domestic  slave  trade  was  as  heinous  as 
the  foreign,  that  it  was  a  war  upon  the  human  species, 
murderous  and  piratical,  was  certainly  not  punishable 
by  law,  but  was  a  general  view  of  the  traffic,  expressed 
in  general  terms  j  and  "  the  extraordinary  license  which 

of  his  life  that  he  could  look  back  upon  with  more  satisfaction."  He  was 
not  so  well  satisfied  with  the  philanthropy  of  the  undertaking,  however, 
that  he  cared  to  repeat  the  experiment,  and  that  was  the  first  and  last 
voyage  on  which  he  ever  carried  slaves  from  one  taskmaster  to  another ; 
and  the  last,  also,  it  is  believed,  on  which  Francis  Todd  allowed  a  vessel 
of  his  to  be  chartered  for  such  a  purpose. 

Mr.  Garrison  derived  the  information  on  which  he  based  his  article, 
"indirectly,  from  Captain  Brown  and  the  mate  of  the  Francis,  the  latter  a 
son  of  Mr.  Todd  ;  and  directly,"  as  he  has  recorded,  "from  a  young  gentle 
man  who  went  as  passenger  in  the  vessel  to  New  Orleans,  and  who  ex 
pressed  some  fears  of  an  insurrection  on  board,  but  whose  testimony  I 
could  not  obtain  in  season  to  produce  at  my  trial.  I  sent  a  copy  of  the 
paper  to  Mr.  Todd,  according  to  my  promise.  Instead  of  vindicating  his 
conduct  in  the  columns  of  the  Genius,  and  endeavoring  to  show  that  my 
statement  was  materially  false,  he  entered  a  civil  action  against  me,  .  .  . 
estimating  damages  at  five  thousand  dollars  "  ( '  Brief  Sketch  of  the  Trial 
of  William  Lloyd  Garrison,'  p.  3). 


^T.  24-25.]  "  THE    GENIUS."  171 

had  been  given  to  the  prosecution  to  read  other  parts  of    CHAP.  vi. 
the  publication  not  contained  in  the  indictment,  in  order      1829^30. 
to  obtain  a  verdict  of  guilty,  was  neither  jure  Jiumano  nor 
jure  divino.    It  was  taking  the  defendant  by  surprise,  by 
giving  him  no  notice  to  prepare   his   evidence  of  the 
truth    of    those    parts    omitted."      In   concluding,   Mr. 
Mitchell    paid   a   warm    tribute   to   the    editors   of   the 
Genius,  and  expressed  the  hope  that  they  would  be  sus 
tained  by  the  jury  and  by  their  country. 

The  prosecuting  attorney,  Mr.  Gill,  made  a  brief  re 
joinder,  defending  the  domestic  slave  trade,  and  denoun 
cing  Lundy  and  Garrison  for  their  "  fanaticism  and 
virulence."  Judge  Brice  said  that  the  jury  would  acquit 
or  convict  upon  the  matter  contained  in  the  indictment, 
but  that  they  might  also  derive  "auxiliary  aid"  from 
the  remainder  of  the  article,  in  making  up  their  verdict ! 
It  took  the  jury  only  fifteen  minutes  to  return  a  verdict 
in  favor  of  the  prosecution,  and  to  declare  Garrison 
guilty  of  libel.  Mr.  Mitchell  at  once  moved  for  arrest  of 
judgment,  and  for  judgment  of  acquittal ;  but  these 
motions,  as  well  as  one  for  a  new  trial,  made  by  the 
advice  of  the  Court  itself,  were  all  overruled  on  the  3d 
of  April,  and  judgment  was  given  on  the  verdict.  Two 
weeks  later,  the  Court  imposed  a  fine  of  fifty  dollars  and 
costs  on  the  offending  editor,  the  whole  amounting  to 
upwards  of  one  hundred  dollars.  This  was  a  large  sum 
at  that  period  —  more,  probably,  than  the  young  printer 
had  ever  possessed  at  one  time,  and  far  more  than  any 
friend  to  whom  he  might  apply  could  afford  to  lend  him. 
He  had  no  alternative,  therefore,  but  to  submit  to  im 
prisonment  ;  and  on  the  17th  of  April,  1830,  he  entered 
Baltimore  Jail,  amid  shouts  of  "  Fresh  fish  !  fresh  fish !» 
from  the  prisoners  who  peered  at  him  from  behind  their 
grated  doors,  and  received  him  with  the  playful  saluta 
tion  which  they  impartially  extended  to  all  new-comers. 

The  publication  of  the  weekly  Genius  had  ceased  six 
weeks  previous  to  this  event,  the  final  number  being 
dated  March  5,  1830,  and  completing  the  sixth  month  of 


172  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON.  [^T.  24-25. 


CHAP.  vi.  the  partnership,  the  dissolution  of  which  was  therein 
1829^30.  announced.  Lundy's  valedictory  was  a  frank  statement 
of  their  inability  longer  to  continue  the  Genius  on  the 
scale  which  they  had  essayed,  and  the  necessity  he 
should  again  be  under  of  issuing  it  as  a  monthly,  in  a 
reduced  form. 

G.  U.  E.,  "  Instead  of  a  patronage  that  would  enable  us  to  pursue  our 
1830,^  205.  course  with  vigor,  we  are  not  afforded  the  means  of  continuing 
our  labors  upon  the  present  plan,  even  with  the  greatest  exer 
tions  of  body  and  mind.  Instead  of  being  placed  in  circum 
stances  that  would  enable  us  to  act  independently  —  which  is 
all  we  have  asked,  and  which  a  proper  advocacy  of  our  cause 
requires  —  we  are  compelled  to  struggle  (harder  than  nature 
will  long  endure)  for  existence  itself. 

"  In  addition  to  the  ordinary  difficulties  arising  from  a  scanty 
patronage,  as  above  mentioned,  others  of  the  most  aggravated 
character  have  presented  themselves.  Persecution,  in  some  of 
its  worst  forms,  has  been  meted  out  with  unsparing  hand. 
Threats  and  slanders,  without  number  or  qualification,  as  well 
as  libel  suits  and  personal  assaults,  have  been  resorted  to,  with 
the  view  of  breaking  down  our  spirits  and  destroying  the 
establishment.  .  .  . 

"  It  would  be  useless  to  say  much  now  as  to  the  manner  in 
which  the  work  has  been  conducted  the  last  six  months. 
Having  been  nearly  the  whole  of  the  time  (as  I  now  am)  from 
home,  with  the  exception  of  the  first  few  weeks,  the  manage 
ment  of  it  devolved,  principally,  upon  the  junior  editor.  In 
some  few  instances,  as  might  have  been  expected,  articles 
were  admitted  that  did  not  fully  meet  my  approbation  ;  but  I 
fully  acquit  him  of  intentionally  inserting  anything  knowing 
that  it  would  be  thus  disapproved  ]  and  we  have  ever  cherished 
for  each  other  the  kindliest  feelings  and  mutual  personal  regard. 
Wherever  his  lot  may  in  future  be  cast,  or  whatever  station  he 
may  occupy,  he  has  my  best  wishes  for  happiness  and  pros 
perity,  both  temporal  and  eternal.  It  would  be  superfluous  in 
me  to  say  that  he  has  proven  himself  a  faithful  and  able  coad 
jutor  in  the  great  and  holy  cause  in  which  we  are  engaged.  — 
Even  his  enemies  will  admit  it.  But  I  cheerfully  take  this 
opportunity  to  bear  testimony  to  his  strict  integrity,  amiable 
deportment,  and  virtuous  conduct,  during  the  period  of  our 
acquaintance. 


^ET. 24-25.]  "THE  GENIUS."  173 

"  On  many  accounts  I  extremely  regret  the  necessity  of  taking    CHAP.  VI. 
the  steps  above  mentioned.    It  will  not  be  encouraging  to  our      ig2~  o 
friends  j  and  our  opponents  will  chuckle  at  this  failure  of  the 
attempt  to  sustain  a  weekly  publication  for  the  promotion  of 
our  cause.    BUT  THAT  CAUSE  is  NOT  YET  TO  BE  ABANDONED. 
Every  energy  of  my  mind  shall  still  be  devoted  to  it." 

To  this,  Garrison  added  these  farewell  words  : 

"  A  separation  from  my  philanthropic  friend  is  painful,  yet,     G.  U.  £., 
owing  to  adverse  circumstances,  unavoidable.    Although  our   I8oo^  2o< 
partnership  is  at  an  end,  I  trust  we  shall  ever  remain  one  in 
spirit  and  purpose,  and  that  the  cause  of  emancipation  will 
suffer  no  detriment. 

"  My  views  on  the  subject  of  slavery  have  been  very  imper 
fectly  developed  in  the  Genius, — the  cares  and  perplexities  of 
the  establishment  having  occupied  a  large  share  of  my  time  and 
attention.  Every  pledge,  however,  that  I  have  made  to  the 
public,  shall  be  fulfilled.  My  pen  cannot  remain  idle,  nor  my 
voice  be  suppressed,  nor  my  heart  cease  to  bleed,  while  two 
millions  of  my  fellow-beings  wear  the  shackles  of  slavery  in  my 
own  guilty  country. 

u  In  all  my  writings  I  have  used  strong,  indignant,  vehement 
language,  and  direct,  pointed,  scorching  reproof.  I  have  noth 
ing  to  recall.  Many  have  censured  me  for  my  severity  —  but, 
thank  God !  none  have  stigmatized  me  with  lukewarmness. 
1  Passion  is  reason  —  transport,  temper  —  here.'  " 


CHAPTER  VII. 

BALTIMORE  JAIL,  AND  AFTER. — 1830. 

CHAP.  vii.  ~JV7~O  man  ever  went  to  prison  with  a  lighter  heart  or 
8o.  -L  1  cleaner  conscience  than  Garrison  j  and  his  slumbers, 
the  first  night,  were  as  sweet  and  peaceful  as  if  he  had 
been  in  his  old  home  by  the  Merrimac.  His  seven  weeks 
in  jail  were  neither  idle  nor  unhappy  weeks  to  him.  He 
was  courteously  and  kindly  treated  by  the  Warden  (David 
W.  Hudson),  at  whose  family  table  he  often  took  his 
meals.  He  was  allowed  considerable  freedom  within  the 
walls,  and  made  use  of  it  to  acquaint  himself  with  some 
of  his  fellow-prisoners,  visiting  them  in  their  cells,  and 
being  locked  in  with  them,  often,  while  he  questioned 
them  and  showed  a  sympathetic  interest  in  their  cases. 
Sometimes  they  were  permitted  to  come  to  his  cell,  and 
for  certain  men  whom  he  thought  especially  deserving 
of  consideration  he  drew  up  petitions  and  letters  to  the 
Governor,  in  their  name,  with  the  result  of  getting  the 
sentences  of  several  commuted.1 

The  high  round  window  of  Garrison's  cell  commanded 
a  view  of  the  street  below,  which  he  could  see  by  stand 
ing  on  his  bed ;  and  on  a  certain  Sunday  afternoon,  when 
a  sudden  shower  fell  and  drenched  the  people  just  coming 
from  church,  he  congratulated  himself  that  he  was  in 

l  One  of  those  who  were  pardoned  and  released  was  a  gigantic  fellow, 
with  double  sets  of  teeth,  who  had  been  sentenced  for  life,  for  highway 
robbery,  and  had  served  many  years  in  a  most  exemplary  manner.  He 
was  so  grateful  to  Mr.  Garrison  for  the  latter's  efforts  in  his  behalf,  that  he 
presented  him  with  a  specimen  of  his  handiwork — a  reel  skilfully  carved 
within  a  bottle — which  the  recipient  retained  for  many  years. 

174 


^T.  25.]  BALTIMOKE   JAIL.  175 

such  dry  and  snug  quarters, — a  similar  sensation,  he  used  CHAP.  vn. 
to  say  with  a  laugh,  to  that  of  the  criminal  on  the  scaf-        ^o. 
fold,  with  rope  about  his  neck,  who  forgot  his  impending 
doom  in  a  temporary  sense  of  delight  over  his  secure  and 
elevated  position,  while  a  mad  bull  was  causing  the  spec 
tators  below  to  flee  for  their  lives. 

Lundy,  who  had  returned  to  Baltimore,  and  was  again 
issuing  the  Genius  in  a  monthly  pamphlet  of  sixteen 
octavo  pages,  came  frequently  to  the  jail  to  see  him,  as 
did  his  old  comrade  Isaac  Knapp,  who  had  come  to  Balti 
more  a  few  weeks  before,  to  work  in  the  Genius  office. 
Many  slave-traders  also  visited  the  jail  to  buy  slaves,  the 
poor  creatures  being  constantly  brought  in,  bound  and 
gagged  in  a  frightful  manner,  for  attempting  to  escape,1 
and  Garrison  did  not  hesitate  to  rebuke  these  dealers  in 
human  flesh  for  their  sinful  occupation.  His  encounter 
with  a  master  who  came  to  reclaim  his  fugitive  was  thus 
related  by  him : 

"  During  my  late  incarceration  in  Baltimore  prison,  four  men  Lib.  i :  21. 
came  to  obtain  a  runaway  slave.  He  was  brought  out  of  his 
cell  to  confront  his  master,  but  pretended  not  to  know  him  — 
did  not  know  that  he  had  ever  seen  him  before  —  could  not 
recollect  his  name.  Of  course  the  master  was  exceedingly 
irritated.  '  Don't  you  remember,'  said  he,  '  when  I  gave  you, 
not  long  since,  thirty-nine  lashes  under  the  apple-tree  ?  An 
other  time,  when  I  gave  you  a  sound  flogging  in  the  barn  ? 
Another  time,  when  you  were  scourged  for  giving  me  the  lie, 
by  saying  that  the  horse  was  in  a  good  condition  ?  ' 

"  i  Yes,'  replied  the  slave,  whose  memory  was  thus  quickened, 
'  I  do  recollect.  You  have  beaten  me  cruelly  without  a  cause  ; 
you  have  not  given  me  enough  to  eat  and  drink ;  and  I  don't 
want  to  go  back  again.  I  wish  you  to  sell  me  to  another 
master  —  I  had  rather  even  go  to  Georgia  than  to  return  home/ 

"  i  I'll  let  you  know,  you  villain,'  said  the  master,  i  that  my 
wishes,  and  not  yours,  are  to  be  consulted.  I'll  learn  you  how 
to  run  away  again.' 

"  The  other  men  advised  him  to  take  the  black  home,  and  cut 
him  up  in  inch  pieces  for  his  impudence,  obstinacy,  and  deser- 

1  Maryland  slaveholders  seldom  kept  a  slave  who  had  once  run  away,  but 
sold  him  immediately  for  the  Southern  market. 


176  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GARRISON.  [^T.  25. 


CHAP.  VII.  tion  —  swearing  tremendously  all  the  while.  The  slave  was 
jjj"  ordered  back  to  his  cell. 

"  I  had  stood  speechless  during  this  singular  dialogue,  my 
blood  boiling  in  my  veins,  and  my  limbs  trembling  with  emo 
tion.  I  now  walked  up  to  the  gang,  and,  addressing  the  master 
as  calmly  as  possible,  said  — 

"  '  Sir,  what  right  have  you  to  that  poor  creature  ?  ' 

"  He  looked  up  in  my  face  very  innocently,  and  replied  — 

"  '  My  father  left  him  to  me.' 

"  l  Suppose,'  said  I,  '  your  father  had  broken  into  a  bank  and 
stolen  ten  thousand  dollars,  and  safely  bequeathed  the  sum  as 
a  legacy  :  could  you  conscientiously  keep  the  money  "?  For 
myself,  I  had  rather  rob  any  bank  to  an  indefinite  amount 
than  kidnap  a  fellow-being,  or  hold  him  in  bondage  :  the  crime 
would  be  less  injurious  to  society,  and  less  sinful  in  the  sight  of 
God.' 

"  The  man  and  his  crew  were  confounded.  What  !  to  hear 
such  sentiments  in  Maryland,  —  and  in  jail,  too  !  Looking  them 
full  in  the  face,  and  getting  no  reply,  I  walked  a  few  steps  to 
the  door.  After  a  brief  consultation,  the  master  came  up  to 
me  and  said  — 

"  '  Perhaps  you  would  like  to  buy  the  slave,  and  give  him  his 
liberty?' 

"  *  Sir,  I  am  a  poor  man  ;  and  were  I  ever  so  opulent,  it 
would  be  necessary,  on  your  part,  to  make  out  a  clear  title  to 
the  services  of  the  slave  before  I  could  conscientiously  make  a 
bargain.' 

u  After  a  pause,  he  said  — 

"  '  Well,  sir,  I  can  prove  from  the  Bible  that  slavery  is  right.' 

"  t  Ah  !  '  replied  I,  '  that  is  a  precious  book  —  the  rule  of  con 
duct.  I  have  always  supposed  that  its  spirit  was  directly 
opposed  to  everything  in  the  shape  of  fraud  and  oppression. 
However,  sir,  I  should  be  glad  to  hear  your  text.' 

"  He  somewhat  hesitatingly  muttered  out  — 

"  '  Ham  —  Noah's  curse,  you  know.' 

"  '  0,  sir,  you  build  on  a  very  slender  foundation.  Granting, 
even  —  what  remains  to  be  proved  —  that  the  Africans  are  the 
descendants  of  Ham,  Noah's  curse  was  a  prediction  of  future 
servitude,  and  not  an  injunction  to  oppress.  Pray,  sir,  is  it  a 
careful  desire  to  fulfil  the  Scriptures,  or  to  make  money,  that 
induces  you  to  hold  your  fellow-men  in  bondage  ?  ' 

"  l  Why,  sir,'  exclaimed  the  slavite,  with  uniningled  astonish 
ment,  l  do  you  really  think  that  the  slaves  are  beings  like  our- 


Mi.  25.]  BALTIMOKE   JAIL.  177 

selves  ?  —  that  is,  I  mean  do  you  believe  that  they  possess  the    CHAP.  VII. 
same  faculties  and  capacities  as  the  whites  ? '  ^Q 

"  '  Certainly,  sir,'  I  responded ;  1 1  do  not  know  that  there  is 
any  moral  or  intellectual  quality  in  the  curl  of  the  hair  or  the 
color  of  the  skin.  I  cannot  conceive  why  a  black  man  may  not 
as  reasonably  object  to  my  color,  as  I  to  his.  Sir,  it  is  not  a 
black  face  that  I  detest,  but  a  black  heart  —  and  I  find  it  very 
often  under  a  white  skin.' 

"  '  Well,  sir,'  said  my  querist,  l  how  should  you  like  to  see  a 
black  man  President  of  the  United  States  ?  ' 

"  As  to  that,  sir,  I  am  a  true  republican,  and  bow  to  the  will 
of  the  majority.  If  the  people  prefer  a  black  President,  I  shall 
cheerfully  submit ;  and  if  he  be  qualified  for  the  station,  may 
peradventure  give  him  my  vote. ' 

" i  How  should  you  like  to  have  a  black  man  marry  your 
daughter  ? ' 

"  '  I  am  not  married  —  I  have  no  daughter.  Sir,  I  am  not 
familiar  with  your  practices  ;  but  allow  me  to  say,  that  slave 
holders  generally  should  be  the  last  persons  to  affect  fastidious 
ness  on  that  point ;  for  they  seem  to  be  enamoured  with 
amalgamation.'1 

"  Thus  ended  the  dialogue.     .     .     . 

Austin  Woolfolk  had  usually  visited  the  jail  almost 
daily,  to  pick  up  bargains  for  his  Southern  shipments ; 
but  during  Garrison's  incarceration  he  absented  himself. 

The  first  task  to  which  the  imprisoned  editor  addressed 
himself  was  to  prepare  and  have  printed,  in  a  pamphlet 
of  eight  pages,  "  A  Brief  Sketch  of  the  Trial  of  William 
Lloyd  Garrison,  for  an  alleged  libel  on  Francis  Todd,  of 
Massachusetts."  To  this  he  invited  "  the  attention  of  the 
public,  and  of  editors  generally,  as  containing  much  in 
struction  and  interest,  as  highly  illustrative  of  Maryland 
justice  (as  administered  by  Nicholas  Brice),  and  as  show 
ing  to  what  extent  the  liberty  of  the  press  is  enjoyed  in 
this  State,"  and  these  were  his  concluding  comments : 

"  The  facts  are  before  the  public.  The  case,  I  believe,  is 
important.  As  for  the  law  (if  it  be  law)  which  has  convicted 
me,  I  regard  it  as  a  burlesque  upon  the  constitution  —  as  pitiful 
as  it  is  abhorrent  and  atrocious.  It  affords  a  fresh  illustration 
of  the  sentiment  of  an  able  writer,  that  l  of  all  injustice,  that  is 
VOL.  I.— 12 


178  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON.  [JET.  23. 

CHAP.  VII.  the  greatest  ichich  goes  under  the  name  of  Law  ;  and  of  all  sorts  of 
tyranny,  the  forcing  of  the  letter  of  the  Laiv  against  the  equity  is 
the  most  insupportable."1  Is  it  supposed  by  Judge  Brice  that  his 
frowns  can  intimidate  me,  or  his  sentence  stifle  my  voice,  on 
the  subject  of  African  oppression  ?  He  does  not  know  ine.  So 
long  as  a  good  Providence  gives  me  strength  and  intellect,  I 
will  not  cease  to  declare  that  the  existence  of  slavery  in  this 
country  is  a  foul  reproach  to  the  American  name ;  nor  will  I 
hesitate  to  proclaim  the  guilt  of  kidnappers,  slave  abettors,  or 
slave  owners,  wheresoever  they  may  reside,  or  however  high 
they  may  be  exalted.  I  am  only  in  the  alphabet  of  my  task  ; 
time  shall  perfect  a  useful  work.  It  is  my  shame  that  I  have 
done  so  little  for  the  people  of  color ;  yea,  before  God,  I  feel 
humbled  that  my  feelings  are  so  cold,  and  my  language  so 
weak.  A  few  white  victims  must  be  sacrificed  to  open  the  eyes 
of  this  nation,  and  to  show  the  tyranny  of  our  laws.  I  expect, 
and  am  willing,  to  be  persecuted,  imprisoned  and  bound,  for 
advocating  African  rights  ;  and  I  should  deserve  to  be  a  slave 
myself  if  I  shrunk  from  that  duty  or  danger. 

"  To  show  the  vindictiveness  of  the  prosecutor,  in  the  present 
instance,  I  would  state  that,  not  content  with  punishing  the 
author^  the  ' libellous'  article  in  the  Genius,  he  has  also  brought 
a  suit  against  my  philanthropic  friend  Lundy,  on  the  same 
ground.  This  is  a  grief  to  me  —  not  so,  however,  to  him.  The 
court  was  aware  that  he  was  out  of  the  State  when  I  published 
my  strictures  upon  Mr.  Todd,  and  that  he  never  saw  them  until 
they  appeared  in  print  —  and  yet  another  prosecution ! 1 

u  Deeply  as  I  am  indebted  to  my  editorial  brethren  through 
out  the  country,  for  their  kind  expressions  toward  me,  I  solicit 
them  to  publish  the  facts  growing  out  of  this  trial,  and  to  make 
such  comments  as  may  seem  expedient.  I  think  it  will  appear 
that  the  freedom  of  the  press  has  been  invaded,  and  that  power, 
and  not  justice,  has  convicted  me  ;  and  I  appeal  to  the  people 
for  a  change  of  the  verdict.  Certainly  the  fact  would  astonish 
all  Europe,  if  it  were  trumpeted  in  that  quarter,  that  an  Ame 
rican  citizen  lies  incarcerated  in  prison,  for  having  denounced  slavery, 
and  its  abettors,  in  his  own  country ! 

WILLIAM  LLOYD  GARRISON. 

"Baltimore  Jail,  May  1, 1830." 

The  following  sonnet,  which  he  had  written  on  the 
wall  of  his  cell,  also  appeared  in  the  pamphlet,  and  is 

l  This  suit  was  never  pressed  to  trial. 


^T.  25.]  BALTIMOKE   JAIL.  179 

unquestionably  the  most  perfect  specimen  he  ever  pro-   CHAP.  vn. 
duced  of  his  favorite  style  of  versification  :  I8^0. 

FKEEDOM   OF   THE   MIND. 
High  walls  and  huge  the  BODY  may  confine,  Selections 

And  iron  grates  obstruct  the  prisoner's  gaze,  fo&sof*' 

And  massive  bolts  may  baffle  his  design,  W.  L.  G., 

And  vigilant  keepers  watch  his  devious  ways  : 
Yet  scorns  th'  immortal  MIND  this  base  control ! 

No  chains  can  bind  it,  and  no  cell  enclose : 
Swifter  than  light,  it  flies  from  pole  to  pole, 

And,  in  a  flash,  from  earth  to  heaven  it  goes ! 
It  leaps  from  mount  to  mount — from  vale  to  vale 

It  wanders,  plucking  honeyed  fruits  and  flowers ; 
It  visits  home,  to  hear  the  fireside  tale, 

Or  in  sweet  converse  pass  the  joyous  hours : 
'Tis  up  before  the  sun,  roaming  afar, 

And,  in  its  watches,  wearies  every  star  ! 

Mr.  Garrison  next  addressed  brief  and  caustic  "Cards"  May  13, 
to  Judge  Brice,  Richard  W.  Gill,  the  prosecuting  attorney 
for  the  State,  and  Henry  Thompson,  Todd's  agent,  which 
would  have  appeared  in  the  May  number  of  the  Genius 
but  for  the  timidity  of  the  printers.  Two  months  later.  G.  u.  E., 
Lundy  had  his  own  office  and  printed  them,  with  his  " p' $^°' 
usual  fearlessness.  Still  another  "  Card,"  to  Francis 
Todd,  he  sent  to  Mr.  Buckingham,  who  promptly  pub 
lished  it  in  the  Boston  Courier,  and  again  spoke  in  com 
plimentary  terms  of  the  young  editor,  whose  career  he 
had  carefully  watched  from  the  outset.  "  We  take  the 
liberty/'  he  added,  "  of  prefixing  two  paragraphs  from 
his  private  letter,  which  show,  even  more  happily  than 
the  other,  the  complacency  and^  serenity  of  his  mind,  and 
will  teach  his  opponents  a  good  lesson  in  the  art  of 
enduring  misfortune  "  : 

TT.  L.  Garrison  to  Joseph  T.  Buckingham. 

BALTIMORE,  May  12,  1830.  Boston 

DEAR  SIR  :  I  salute  you  from  the  walls  of  my  prison !     So      May  24, 
weak  is  poor  human  nature,  that  commonly,  the  larger  the        1830. 
building  it  occupies,  the  more  it  is  puffed  up  with  inordinate 


180  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAEKISON.  [^ET.  25. 

CHAP.  VII.  pride.  I  assure  you,  that,  notwithstanding  the  massive  dimen 
sions  of  this  superstructure  —  its  imperishable  strength,  its 
redundant  passages,  its  multicapsular  apartments  —  I  am  as 
humble  as  any  occupant  of  a  ten-foot  building  in  our  great 
Babel  j  — which  frame  of  mind,  my  friends  must  acknowledge, 
is  very  commendable.  It  is  true,  I  am  not  the  owner  of  this 
huge  pile,  nor  the  grave  lord-keeper  of  it ;  but  then,  I  pay  no 
rent  —  am  bound  to  make  no  repairs  —  and  enjoy  the  luxury  of 
independence  divested  of  its  cares.  .  .  . 

Now,  don't  look  amazed  because  I  am  in  confinement.  I 
have  neither  broken  any  man's  head  nor  picked  any  man's 
pocket,  neither  committed  highway  robbery  nor  fired  any 
part  of  the  city.  Yet,  true  it  is,  I  am  in  prison,  as  snug  as  a 
robin  in  his  cage  j  but  I  sing  as  often,  and  quite  as  well,  as  I 
did  before  my  wings  were  clipped.  To  change  the  figure :  here 
I  strut,  the  lion  of  the  day  j  and,  of  course,  attract  a  great 
number  of  visitors,  as  the  exhibition  is  gratuitous  —  so  that 
between  the  conversation  of  my  friends,  the  labors  of  my  brain, 
and  the  ever-changing  curiosities  of  this  huge  menagerie,  time 
flies  astonishingly  swift.  Moreover,  this  is  a  capital  place  to 
sketch  the  lights  and  shadows  of  human  nature.  Every  day,, 
in  the  gallery  of  my  imagination,  I  hang  up  a  fresh  picture.  I 
shall  have  a  rare  collection  at  the  expiration  of  my  visit.  .  .  . 

A   CAKD. 
To  Mr.  Francis  Todd,  Merchant,  of  Newburyport,  (Mass.) 

SIR  :  As  a  New-England  man,  and  a  fellow-townsman,  I  am 
ashamed  of  your  conduct.  How  could  you  suffer  your  noble 
ship  to  be  freighted  with  the  wretched  victims  of  slavery  ?  Is 
not  this  horrible  traffic  offensive  to  God,  and  revolting  to 
humanity  ?  You  have  a  wife  —  Do  you  love  her  ?  You  have 
children  —  If  one  merchant  should  kidnap,  another  sell,  and  a 
third  transport  them  to  a  foreign  market,  how  would  you  bear 
this  bereavement  *?  What  language  would  be  strong  enough  to 
denounce  the  abettor  ?  You  would  rend  the  heavens  with  your 
lamentations!  There  is  no  sacrifice  so  painful  to  parents  as 
the  loss  of  their  offspring.  So  cries  the  voice  of  nature  ! 

Take  another  case.  Suppose  you  and  your  family  were 
seized  on  execution,  and  sold  at  public  auction  :  a  New  Orleans 
planter  buys  your  children  —  a  Georgian,  your  wife — a  South 
Carolinian,  yourself :  would  one  of  your  townsmen  (believing  the 
job  to  be  a  profitable  one)  be  blameless  for  transporting  you  ah1 
thither,  though  familiar  with  all  these  afflicting  circumstances  ? 


^ET.  25.]  BALTIMOKE   JAIL.  181 

Sir,  I  owe  you  no  ill-will.     My  soul  weeps  over  your  error.     I    CHAP.  VII. 
denounced  your  conduct  in  strong  language  —  but  did  not  you         Ijj~) 
deserve  it  ?   Consult  your  Bible  and  your  heart.   I  am  in  prison 
for  denouncing  slavery  in  a  free  country !     You,  who   have 
assisted  in  oppressing  your  fellow-creatures,  are  permitted  to 
go  at  large,  and  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  your  crime !     Cui  prodest 
sceluSj  is  fecit. 

You  shall  hear  from  me  again.  In  the  meantime,  with 
mingled  emotions,  &c.,  &c. 

WILLIAM  LLOYD  GAERISON. 

Baltimore  Jail,  May  13, 1830. 

[For  the  Courier.] 

MR.  EDITOR  :  At  the  request  of  the  State  of  Maryland,  (through 
the  medium  of  Judge  Nicholas  Brice,)  I  have  removed  from  my 
residence  in  Baltimore  Street  to  a  less  central  but  more  impos 
ing  tenement.  My  windows  are  grated — probably  to  exclude 
nocturnal  visitants,  and  to  show  the  singular  estimation  in 
which  my  person  is  held.  The  cause  of  this  preferment  arises 
from  my  opposition  to  slavery. 

I  send  you  a  Sonnet  which  I  pencilled  on  the  wall  of  my  room 
the  morning  after  my  incarceration.  It  is  a  little  bulletin  show 
ing  in  what  manner  I  rested  during  the  preceding  night. 

SONNET   TO    SLEEP. 

Thou  art  no  fawning  sycophant,  sweet  Sleep ! 

That  turn'st  away  when  fortune  'gins  to  frown, 
Leaving  the  stricken  wretch  alone  to  weep, 

And  curse  his  former  opulent  renown : 
0  no!  but  here  —  even  to  this  desolate  place  — 

Thou  com'st  as  'twere  a  palace  trimm'd  with  gold, 
Its  architecture  of  Corinthian  grace, 

Its  gorgeous  pageants  dazzling  to  behold :  — 
No  prison  walls  nor  bolts  can  thee  affright  — 

Where  dwelleth  innocence,  there  thou  art  found ! 
How  pleasant,  how  sincere  wast  thou  last  night ! 

What  blissful  dreams  my  morning  slumber  crowned ! 
Health- giving  Sleep !  than  mine  a  nobler  verse 

Must  to  the  world  thy  matchless  worth  rehearse. 

W.  L.  G. 

While  editing  the  Genius,  Garrison  found  no  time  to 
indulge  his  fondness  for  writing  verses,  and  some  lines 


182 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON. 


[Mi.  25. 


CHAP.  VII. 
1830. 


of  his  on  the  Slave  Trade,  in  the  first  number,  were  his 
only  poetical  contribution  to  the  paper ;  but  during  his 
imprisonment  his  muse  seems  to  have  been  especially 
active,  and  besides  the  sonnets  already  given  he  wrote  a 
third,  entitled  — 

THE   GUILTLESS   PRISONER. 

Prisoner !  within  these  gloomy  walls  close  pent  — 

Guiltless  of  horrid  crime  or  venial  wrong  — 
Bear  nobly  up  against  thy  punishment, 

And  in  thy  innocence  be  great  and  strong ! 
Perchance  thy  fault  was  love  to  all  mankind ; 

Thou  didst  oppose  some  vile,  oppressive  law; 
Or  strive  all  human  fetters  to  unbind; 

Or  wouldst  not  bear  the  implements  of  war :  — 
What  then  ?     Dost  thou  so  soon  repent  the  deed  ? 

A  martyr's  crown  is  richer  than  a  king's ! 
Think  it  an  honor  with  thy  Lord  to  bleed, 

And  glory  'midst  intensest  sufferings  ! 
Though  beat  —  imprisoned  —  put  to  open  shame  — 

Time  shall  embalm  and  magnify  thy  name. 


Lib  .1:92. 


He  furthermore  wrote  a  series  of  twenty  stanzas  in  fair 
Byronic  metre,  chiefly  addressed  to  a  young  lady  whom 
he  had  met  but  once,  some  three  years  before,  but  whose 
personal  attractions  had  touched  his  susceptibilities. 
His  incidental  description  of  a  Boston  "  election  week " 
Ante,  p.  79.  or  "June  training"  has  been  quoted  in  a  previous  chap 
ter.  Noticeable,  also,  is  another  poem  of  half  a  dozen 
stanzas,  inspired  by  a  speech  of  Senator  Frelinghuysen, 
of  New  Jersey,  in  the  United  States  Senate,  in  denuncia 
tion  of  the  plots  in  Georgia  to  dispossess  the  Cherokee 
Indians  of  their  lands.  "  If  the  dominant  party  in  the 
Senate/'  wrote  Mr.  Garrison,  in  sending  his  poem  1  to 
the  Genius,  u  had  not  been  more  insensate  than  marble 
statues,  or  their  hearts  more  impenetrable  than  polar  ice, 
his  speech  would  have  effectually  checked  the  rapacity  of 
Georgia,  and  rescued  the  American  name  from  eternal 
infamy.  Their  positive  refusal  to  observe  the  faith  of 

1  First  printed  in  the  National  Journal,  Washington.     It  bore  date  "  Balti 
more  Jail,  May  22,  1830,"  and  was  "  the  hasty  effusion  of  a  moment." 


G.  U.  £., 
July,  1830, 
#•54.  55- 


.  25.] 


BALTIMOKE   JAIL. 


183 


treaties  caps  the  climax  of  party  depravity,  which,  in  this 
instance,  is  one  degree  beloiv  total  depravity." 

The  pamphlet  account  of  the  libel  suit  and  trial  soon 
evoked  wide  comment  and  criticism  from  the  newspapers 
on  this  transparent  attempt  to  stifle  a  free  press.  "  More 
than  an  hundred  voices  have  been  raised,"  said  Lundy, 
in  the  Genius,  "  more  than  an  hundred  periodical  works 
have  denounced  (many  of  them  in  no  very  measured 
terms)  this  attack  upon  what  we  have  ever  considered 
our  proper  editorial  privileges."1 

"  Up  to  that  period,"  wrote  Garrison  subsequently,  "  no 
single  incident  connected  with  the  subject  of  slavery  had  ever 
excited  so  much  attention,  or  elicited  such  a  spontaneous  burst 
of  general  indignation.  As  the  news  of  my  imprisonment  be 
came  extensively  known,  and  the  merits  of  the  case  understood, 
not  a  mail  rolled  into  the  city  but  it  brought  me  consolatory- 
letters  from  individuals  hitherto  unknown  to  me,  and  period 
icals  of  all  kinds,  from  every  section  of  the  Union,  (not  even 
excepting  the  South,)  all  uniting  to  give  me  a  triumphant 
acquittal — all  severely  reprehending  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Todd 
—  and  all  regarding  my  trial  as  a  mockery  of  justice.  Indeed, 
I  was  in  danger  of  being  lifted  up  beyond  measure,  even  in 
prison,  by  excessive  panegyric  and  extraordinary  sympathy."  2 

1  It  is  doubtful  if  any  Northern  editor  expressed  himself  with  more  vigor 
and  fearlessness  on  the  subject  than  George  D.  Prentice,  then  conducting 
the  New  England  Weekly  Review  at  Hartford.     He  was  at  that  time  a  warm 
admirer  of  Garrison,  though  he  had  never  seen  him,  and,  after  a  careful 
examination  of  the  facts  relating  to  the  trial,  he  flung  down  the  gauntlet  to 
Todd  in  this  spirited  fashion  : 

"  The  remarks  in  Mr.  Garrison's  alleged  libel  were  strict  truths  —  truths, 
too,  which  it  concerns  the  public  to  know.  The  slave-trade  is  murder  —  it 
is  piracy  — and  if  F.  Todd  is  guilty  of  it,  murder  and  piracy  are  among  the 
crimes  for  which  he  is  answerable.  Perhaps  his  vindictive  feelings  are  not 
propitiated  by  the  sufferings  of  a  single  victim.  If  so,  he  is  at  perfect 
liberty  to  consider  us  as  repeating,  sentence  for  sentence  and  word  for 
word,  everything  which  Mr.  Garrison  has  said  touching  him  and  his  abom 
inable  traffick.  Thank  Heaven,  we  are  not  in  Maryland,  nor  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Court  from  which  our  friend  received  his  sentence " 
(N.  E.  W.  Review,  May  31,  1830). 

Prentice  soon  after  resigned  his  position  to  Whittier  and  removed  to 
Louisville,  Kentucky,  where,  as  editor  of  the  Journal,  he  became  wholly 
subservient  to  the  Slave  Power  and  recreant  to  his  early  professions. 

2  Prentice  was  certainly  unstinting  in  his  praise.     "Mr.  Garrison  is  too 
well  known  to  the  public,"  he  said,  "to  need  from  us  any  testimonial  either 


CHAP.  VII. 
1830. 


G.  U.  E,, 

June,  1830, 

A  35- 


Preface  to 

zd  ed.  Trial 

Pamphlet, 

Boston, 

1834. 


184 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAERISON. 


.  25. 


CHAP.  VII. 

1830. 


N.  P.  Her 
ald,  May2$, 
1830. 


The  comments  of  no  other  paper  were  awaited  with 
such  eager  interest  by  Mr.  Garrison  as  those  of  the  New- 
buryport  Herald,  as  he  naturally  wished  to  know  how 
his  old  master  and  his  townsmen  regarded  his  course, 
and  felt  anxious  that  they  should  understand  and  appre 
ciate  the  motives  which  had  led  him  to  assail  one  of  their 
prominent  citizens.  Mr.  Allen  could  not  ignore  the 
appeal  made  in  the  pamphlet  of  his  late  apprentice,  and 
at  length  broke  the  silence  which  he  had  hitherto  kept 
about  the  matter.  After  briefly  mentioning  Garrison's 
trial  and  imprisonment,  he  paid  a  generous  tribute  to  his 
protege,  defending  him  against  the  charges  of  vanity, 
love  of  display,  and  eagerness  for  notoriety,  which  had 
been  brought  against  him,  and  crediting  him  with  only 
lofty  aspirations  and  motives ;  and  he  bore  this  testi 
mony  : 

"  We  are  the  friends  of  Mr.  Garrison.  We  have  known  him 
from  his  childhood ;  he  has  been  in  our  family  and  eaten  at  our 
board.  We  have  watched  his  progress  in  lif e  with  deep  interest. 
Without  early  advantages  of  education,  but  with  a  mind  ex 
ceedingly  susceptible  to  improvement,  he  seized  on  every 
opportunity  afforded  by  intervals  from  labor  to  create  and  add 
to  his  stock  of  information ;  in  a  word,  he  was  a  diligent  student. 
His  peculiar  characteristics  are  an  ardent  temperament  and 
warm  imagination ;  his  undeniable  merits,  pure  purposes  and 
unshaken  courage.  Resolute  in  his  convictions  on  subjects  of 
higher  importance,  he  may  seem  (and  no  doubt  sometimes  is) 
hasty,  stubborn,  and  dogmatic,  rash  and  unyielding,  where 
patience  and  docility  would  have  varied  his  views  and  softened 
his  temper." 

of  his  talents  or  his  virtues.  Among  the  young  men  of  our  country,  he  has 
few  equals  and  not  one  superior.  His  greatest  praise,  and  the  greatest 
which  any  man  can  covet,  is  that  he  has  devoted  himself,  body  and  soul  to 
the  amelioration  of  our  race.  Without  the  hope,  and  almost  without  the 
possibility,  of  pecuniary  remuneration,  he  has  gone  out,  a  moral  apostle, 
among  the  votaries  of  crime  and  oppression,  and  lifted  up  a  voice  among 
them  that  already  makes  them  tremble  for  their  ancient  prerogatives.  By 
the  blessing  of  God,  he  will  triumph.  His  triumphs  have  already  begun. 
We  would  rather  be  W.  L.  Garrison,  confined  as  he  now  is  in  a  dungeon-cell, 
than  his  tyrannical  judge  upon  the  bench  which  he  has  disgraced,  or 
Francis  Todd  in  the  midst  of  the  guilty  splendors  of  ill-gotten  gold  "  (Ibid. ) 


^T.  25.]  BALTIMOKE   JAIL.  185 

But  while  condemning  the  domestic  slave  trade,  and  CHAP.  vn. 
applauding  Garrison's  reprobation  of  it,  Mr.  Allen  thought  l8^o. 
that  in  assailing  Todd  he  had  stepped  aside  to  wound 
those  who  were  not  and  never  would  be  guilty  of  joining 
in  the  traffic ;  and  that  his  charge  had  been  based  on 
"  vague  rumor,  hasty  conversation,  and  scattered  facts," 
and  not  fully  sustained.  That  Todd  considered  such  a 
charge  a  libel  on  his  reputation,  was  a  circumstance 
highly  in  his  favor,  and  showed  that  he  himself  thought, 
with  the  just  and  benevolent,  that  the  traffic  ought  not 
to  be  supported, —  a  very  amusing  theory,  in  view  of  the 
facts  proved  at  the  trial. 

To  this  article  Mr.  Garrison  promptly  replied  in  a 
letter  which  filled  nearly  three  columns  of  the  Herald  : 

W.  L.  Garrison  to  EpJiraim  W.  Allen. 

To  THE  EDITOR  OF  THE  NEWBURYPORT  "  HERALD."  N.  p.  Her 

ald,  June  \\, 
DEAR  SIR  :  I  thank  you  for  a  copy  of  the  Herald  containing        1830. 

a  notice  of  my  late  trial  for  an  alleged  libel  on  Mr.  Francis 
Todd.  Your  encomiums  I  receive  with  pleasure  and  humility. 
The  esteem  of  a  good  man  is  always  worth  possessing  ;  but  to 
him  who  stands  comparatively  alone  in  the  world  —  fatherless, 
motherless,  without  wealth,  and  unassisted  by  the  influence  of 
relatives  —  and  who  has  just  passed  the  vestibule  of  manhood,  it 
is  invaluable.  I  have  received  too  many  kindnesses  at  your 
hands  to  doubt  your  friendship  ;  and  too  many  ever  to  forget 
the  obligations  under  which  I  labor. 

Yet  there  are  some  passages  in  your  review  which  seem  to 
require  a  brief  interrogation  : 

You  say : 

"  When  carried  on  by  system,  for  purposes  of  traffic,  the  domestic 
slave  trade  deserves  the  reprobation  of  every  man  who  dares 
call  himself  free,  or  just,  or  humane." 

Surely,  sir,  you  do  not  mean  to  justify  or  palliate  the  occa 
sional  transportation  of  slaves  ?  If  the  whole  system  be  abhor 
rent  to  humanity,  can  any  part  of  it  be  venial?  If  Austin 
Woolfolk  (a  slave-exporter  of  devilish  notoriety  in  Maryland) 
deserves  the  withering  indignation  of  a  virtuous  community 
for  carrying  on  the  trade  regularly,  does  not  Francis  Todd  (or 
any  other  merchant)  merit  reprobation  —  in  a  less  degree,  cer- 


186  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON.  [^T.  25. 

CHAP.  VII.  tainly —  for  dipping  into  it  irregularly  f  In  a  case  of  theft,  is 
it  not  an  orthodox  maxim,  that  "  the  receiver  (i.  e.  he  who  knows 
that  the  goods  are  stolen)  is  as  bad  as  the  thief  ?  "  Even  if  a 
man  connives  at  crime,  though  he  is  not  the  immediate  perpe 
trator  thereof,  the  law  does  not  hold  him  guiltless ;  and  common 
sense  tells  us  that  it  should  not. 

The  above  quotation  carries  a  pernicious  inference  —  contrary, 
I  am  sure,  to  your  intention.  But  why  not  have  explicitly 
declared,  that  no  device  should  protect  the  man  from  public 
indignation  who  assists  in  any  way,  or  however  rarely,  in  ex 
tending  and  perpetuating  the  horrible  traffic  ?  For  myself, 
neither  the  terrors  of  the  law,  nor  the  fires  of  martyrdom,* 
shall  deter  me  from  invoking  confiscation  and  imprisonment 
upon  every  such  abettor.  Pope  illustrates  the  distinction  with 
admirable  conciseness  : 

"  Friend,  spare  the  person,  and  expose  the  vice." 
"  How  !  not  condemn  the  sharper,  but  the  dice  !  " 

Moreover,  you  remark :  "If,  in  assailing  the  traffic,  Mr.  Gar 
rison  steps  aside  to  wound  those  ivlio  are  not,  and  would  never 
be,  guilty  of  joining  in  it,  he  is  neither  to  be  justified  nor  com 
mended," —  &c.,  &c.  [Certainly  not.]  "  And  he  who  is  made 
the  object  of  the  odious  charge,  if  innocent,  is  not  to  be  brow 
beaten  for  taking  lawful  steps  to  vindicate  his  character." 
[Ditto.] 

There  is  a  gratuitous  insinuation  in  these  truisms,  which  is 
calculated  to  injure  my  character  with  those  who  are  ignorant 
of  the  merits  of  the  present  case.  Have  I  gone  out  of  my  way 
to  attack  an  innocent  man  ?  If  not,  where  is  the  pertinency  of 
your  remarks  ?  Now,  I  substantially  proved  the  truth  of  my 
allegations  at  my  trial — namely,  that  the  Francis  carried  slaves 
to  New  Orleans,  and  that  she  was  owned  by  Mr.  Todd :  nay, 
that  thirteen  more  were  taken  than  I  had  represented.  Yet  you 
do  not  apprise  your  readers  of  these  facts,  but  leave  them  to 
infer  that  I  have  slandered  the  character  of  this  gentleman  in 
the  most  wilful  and  unpardonable  manner ! !  Is  this  suppres 
sion  commendable  ?  .  .  . 

If  Mr.  Todd  had  been  innocent,  he  would  not  have  instan 
taneously  kindled  into  a  passion,  and  presented  me  as  a  libeller 
to  a  jury  whom  he  suspected  of  cherishing  hostile  feelings  to- 

*  A  few  days  since,  Judge  Brice  observed  to  the  Warden  of  the  Jail,  that 
"  Mr.  Garrison  was  ambitious  of  becoming  a  martyr."  "  Tell  his  Honor," 
I  responded,  "that  if  his  assertion  be  true,  he  is  equally  ambitious  of 
gathering  the  faggots  and  applying  the  torch." 


J3T.  25.]  BALTIMORE   JAIL.  187 

wards  the  Genius  of  Universal  Emancipation.  Charitably  be-  CHAP.  VII. 
lieving  that  I  had  been  unwittingly  led  into  error,  he  would  I^0 
have  corresponded  with  me  on  the  subject,  and  demanded  a 
public  apology  for  the  injury  inflicted  upon  his  character  j  and 
I  would  have  promptly  made  that  apology  —  yea,  upon  my 
bended  knees.  For  I  confidently  assert,  that  no  individual  who 
knows  me  personally  —  not  even  the  accused  himself  —  believes 
that  I  was  instigated  by  malice  in  the  publication  of  my  strict 
ures.  I  make  no  other  charge  against  him.  If  I  have  enemies,  I 
forgive  them — I  am  the  enemy  of  no  man.  My  memory  can  no 
more  retain  the  impression  of  anger,  hatred  or  revenge,  than 
the  ocean  the  track  of  its  monsters. 

The  admonition  of  Ganganelli,  that  libels  and  satires  make  an 
impression  only  upon  weak  and  badly  organized  heads,  ought  not 
to  have  been  lost  upon  Mr.  Todd — especially  if  his  hands  were 
clean  and  his  heart  white.  Moreover,  what  if  the  times  were 
hard,  freights  dull,  and  money  scarce  —  was  he  in  danger  of 
starvation  ?  And,  if  so,  how  much  nobler  would  have  been 
his  conduct,  if  he  had  adopted  the  language  of  the  martyred 
patriot  of  England — the  great  Algernon  Sidney !  — 

"  I  have  ever  had  in  my  mind,  that  when  God  should  cast  me  into  such  a 
condition  as  that  I  cannot  save  my  life  but  by  doing  an  indecent  thing,  he 
shows  me  the  time  has  come  wherein  I  should  resign  it ;  and  when  I  cannot 
live  in  my  own  country  but  by  such  means  as  are  worse  than  dying  in  it,  I 
think  he  shows  me  I  ought  to  keep  myself  out  of  it." 

Finally,  you  observe  :  "  We  cannot,  in  such  comment  as  Mr. 
Garrison  desires  editors  generally  to  make  on  his  prosecution  j 
and  we  cannot,  in  our  real  friendship  to  him,  praise  him  for  any 
act  of  rashness  and  indiscretion." 

I  ask,  deserve,  and  expect  the  praise  of  no  individuals  for  my 
labors  j  because  I  am  merely  endeavoring  to  perform  my  duty 
—  and,  as  I  fall  far  short  of  that  duty,  therefore  I  cannot  be 
meritorious.  You  misapprehend  the  nature  of  the  comments 
that  I  requested  editors  to  make  upon  my  trial.  It  is  my  solemn 
belief,  that  a  more  flagrant  infringement  upon  the  liberty  of  the 
press  than  is  presented  in  the  decision  of  the  Court,  is  hardly  to 
be  found  in  the  record  of  libellous  prosecutions  in  France  or 
Great  Britain.  I  was  convicted  upon  an  indictment  which  was 
utterly  defective,  and  as  innocent  as  blank  paper  —  evidence 
failing  to  prove  that  I  had  printed  or  published,  or  had  any 
agency  in  printing  or  publishing,  or  had  written  or  caused  to 
be  written,  or  had  even  seen  or  known  anything  of,  the  obnoxious 


188 


WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON. 


1830. 


CHAP.  VII.  article  !  !  Here,  then,  seemed  to  be  an  extraordinary  procedure, 
unparalleled  for  its  complexion  in  this  country  at  least,  and 
dangerous  to  the  freedom  of  public  discussion  —  deserving,  in  a 
special  manner,  the  animadversion  of  every  watchful  patriot :  — 
An  editor  convicted  of  writing  and  publishing  a  "  false,  wicked 
and  malicious  libel,"  without  any  authentic  evidence  of  his  guilt, 
and  upon  the  most  whimsical  pretenses  ! !  —  I  solicited  no  sym 
pathy  for  myself :  I  only  requested  editors  to  look  at  the  law 
and  the  facts,  and  to  vindicate  their  prerogative.  "  Let  it  be 
impressed  upon  your  minds,"  says  Junius, il  let  it  be  instilled 
into  your  children,  that  the  liberty  of  the  press  is  the  palladium 
of  all  your  civil,  political  and  religious  rights."  .  .  . 

If  I  am  prompted  by  "  vanity  "  in  pleading  for  the  poor,  de 
graded,  miserable  Africans,  it  is  at  least  a  harmless,  and,  I 
hope,  will  prove  a  useful  vanity.  Would  to  God  it  were  epi 
demical  !  It  is  a  vanity  calculated  to  draw  down  the  curses  of 
the  guilty,  to  elicit  the  sneers  of  the  malevolent,  to  excite  the 
suspicion  of  the  cold-hearted,  to  offend  the  timidity  of  the  waver 
ing,  to  disturb  the  repose  of  the  lethargic  j  —  a  vanity  that 
promises  to  its  possessor  nothing  but  neglect,  poverty,  sorrow, 
reproach,  persecution  and  imprisonment — with  the  approbation 
of  a  good  conscience,  and  the  smiles  of  a  merciful  God.  I  think  it 
will  last  me  to  the  grave. 

But  why  so  vehement  ?  so  unyielding  ?  so  severe  ?  Because 
the  times  and  the  cause  demand  vehemence.  An  immense  ice 
berg,  larger  and  more  impenetrable  than  any  which  floats  in  the 
arctic  ocean,  is  to  be  dissolved,  and  a  little  extra  heat  is  not  only 
pardonable,  but  absolutely  necessary.  Because  truth  can  never 
be  sacrificed,  and  justice  is  eternal.  Because  great  crimes  and 
destructive  evils  ought  not  to  be  palliated,  nor  great  sinners 
applauded.  With  reasonable  men,  I  will  reason ;  with  humane 
men,  I  will  plead;  but  to  tyrants  I  will  give  no  quarter,  nor 
waste  arguments  where  they  will  certainly  be  lost. 

The  hearts  of  some  individuals  are  like  ice,  congealed  by  the 
frigidity  of  a  wintry  atmosphere  that  surrounds,  envelopes  and 
obdurates.  These  may  be  melted  by  the  rays  of  humanity,  the 
warmth  of  expostulation,  and  the  breath  of  prayer.  Others  are 
like  adamantine  rocks ;  they  require  a  ponderous  sledge  and  a 
powerful  arm  to  break  them  in  pieces,  or  a  cask  of  powder  to 
blow  them  up.  Truth  may  blaze  upon  them  with  midday  in- 
tenseness,  but  they  cannot  dissolve. 

Everyone  who  comes  into  the  world  should  do  something  to 
repair  its  moral  desolation,  and  to  restore  its  pristine  loveliness  ; 


Cf.  Lib.  i : 
n,andS.J. 
May's  Rec 
ollections, 
P-  37- 


MT.  25.]  BALTIMOKE   JAIL.  189 

and  he  who  does  not  assist,  but  slumbers  away  his  life  in  idle-    CHAP.  VII. 
ness,  defeats  one  great  purpose  of  his  creation.     But  he  who,         ^JT 
not  only  refusing  to  labor  himself,  endeavors  to  enlarge  and 
perpetuate  the  ruin,  by  discouraging  the  hearts  of  the  more  in 
dustrious,  and  destroying  their  beautiful  works,  is  a  monster 
and  a  barbarian,  in  despite  of  his  human  nature  and  of  civili 
zation. 

With  sentiments  of  high  esteem  and  ardent  affection,  I  sub 

scribe  myself, 

Yours,  to  the  grave, 

WM.  LLOYD  GARRISON. 

NOTE.  .  .  .  No  doubt  many  merchants  in  New  England 
will  condemn  me,  for  the  significant  reason  urged  by  the  editors 
[of  the  Boston  Commercial  Gazette]  ,  namely,  "  a  proper  regard 
for  their  own  characters."  Why  ?  Because  they  are  guilty, 
and  dread  exposure.  It  is  a  shameful  fact,  —  and  in  private 
conversation  it  is  thrown  at  me  repeatedly,  —  that  the  transpor 
tation  of  slaves  is  almost  entirely  effected  in  New  England 
bottoms  !  !  !  —  The  case  of  Mr.  Todd  is  not  a  rare  one.  I  was 
very  warmly  conversing,  the  other  day,  with  a  slave-owner  on 
the  criminality  of  oppressing  the  blacks,  when  he  retorted  — 
"Your  preaching  is  fine,  but  it  is  more  especially  needed  at 
home.  I  detest  the  slave  trade  —  it  is  cruel  and  unpardonable  : 
yet  your  Eastern  merchants  do  not  scruple  to  embark  in  it." 
"  Sir,"  I  replied,  "  I  do  not  endorse  their  conduct.  The  fact 
that  you  state  is  humiliating.  Am  I  not  confined  in  prison  for 
exposing  one  of  their  number  ?  Let  them  beware  !  Every  one 
whom.  I  detect  in  this  nefarious  business  —  merchant  or  master 
—  shall  be  advertised  to  the  world." 

My  punishment  does  not  dishearten  me.  Whether  liberated 
or  not,  my  pen  shall  not  remain  idle.  My  thoughts  flow  as 
copiously,  my  spirit  towers  as  loftily,  my  soul  flames  as  in 
tensely,  in  prison,  as  out  of  it.  The  court  may  shackle  the 
body,  but  it  cannot  pinion  the  mind. 

W.  L.  G. 

Baltimore  Jail,  June  1,  1830. 


Among  the  friends  to  whom  Garrison  had  written, 
from  his  prison  cell,  a  bright  and  cheerful  letter,  similar 
to  that  printed  in  the  Boston  Courier,  was  the  poet 
Whittier,  who  felt  deeply  troubled  about  his  confinement 


190  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAKRISON.  [^-r.  25. 

CHAP.  vii.   and  tried  to  devise  some  means  of  effecting  his  release. 
Ij^0.        He  could  think  of  nothing  better  than  to  write  to  Henry 

Lib.  34 : 49.  Clay,  asking  him  to  use  his  influence  with  his  personal 
and  political  friends  in  Baltimore  to  that  end,  and  he 
took  pains  to  remind  the  Kentucky  statesman  that  the 
imprisoned  editor  had  nominated  him  for  the  Presidency 
two  years  before,  and  was  his  warm  admirer.  Clay  soon 
afterwards  replied  that  he  had  communicated  with  a 
friend  (Hezekiah  Niles)  in  Baltimore,  in  compliance  with 
Whittier's  request,  and  had  just  learned  from  his  corre 
spondent  that  he  had  been  anticipated,  and  that  the 
liberation  had  been  effected  without  the  aid  he  would 
otherwise  have  given.  Clay  was  probably  disposed  to 
unite  with  his  friend  Niles  in  paying  the  fine,  if  the  latter 
considered  the  case  a  worthy  one,  and  to  testify  thus  his 
appreciation  of  the  support  which  both  Garrison  and 
Whittier  had  given  him  in  the  Journal  of  the  Times  and 
the  Boston  Manufacturer.^ 

Garrison  had  nearly  completed  his  seventh  week  in 
jail  when  Lundy  received  the  following  letter  from  a 
New  York  merchant,  well  known  for  his  philanthropy 
and  generosity : 

Arthur   Tappan    to  Benjamin  Lundy. 

MS.  NEW  YORK,  May  29,  1830. 

DEAR  SIR  :  I  have  read  the  sketch  of  the  trial  of  Mr.  Garrison 
with  that  deep  feeling  of  abhorrence  of  slavery  and  its  abettors 
which  every  one  must  feel  who  is  capable  of  appreciating  the 
blessings  of  liberty.  If  one  hundred  dollars  will  give  him  his 
liberty,  you  are  hereby  authorized  to  draw  on  me  for  that  sum, 
and  I  will  gladly  make  a  further  donation  of  the  same  amount 
to  aid  you  and  Mr.  GL  in  re-establishing  the  Genius  of  Universal 
Emancipation  as  published  by  you  previous  to  its  assuming  the 
pamphlet  form.  Such  a  paper  is  much  needed  to  hold  up  to 
American  freemen,  in  all  its  naked  deformity,  the  subject  of 

l  He  had  never  seen  either  of  them.  Years  afterwards  he  met  Whittier 
in  Washington,  and  asked  the  poet  why  he  no  longer  supported  him. 
Whittier  frankly  replied  that  he  could  not  support  a  slaveholder.  Clay 
was  "pleasant,  cordial,  and  magnetic  in  manner." 


JET.  25.]  BALTIMORE   JAIL.  191 

slavery  as  it  now  exists  in  our  country;  and  I  earnestly  hope    CHAP.  VI I. 
you  will  find  encouragement  to  resume  it  and  to  give  it  a  wide         IZ0 
circulation.  I  am  with  esteem 

Yr.  obt.  servant, 

ARTHUR  TAPPAN.  * 

The  Warden's  receipt  for  $5.34  in  payment  of  jail  fees 
shows  that  Mr.  Garrison  was  released  on  the  5th  of  June, 
1830,  after  an  imprisonment  of  forty-nine  days.  Two 
days  later  he  started  for  Massachusetts,  to  obtain  certain 
evidence  which  his  counsel  deemed  important  for  the 
trial  yet  pending  on  Todd's  suit.  He  took  with  him  a 
written  circular,  "  To  the  Friends  of  the  Anti-Slavery  J/5. 
Cause,"  signed  by  Lundy  and  dated  Baltimore,  June  7, 
which  proposed  the  renewal  of  the  weekly  Genius  and 
continuation  of  the  monthly  issue,  provided  a  sufficient 
patronage  could  be  obtained.  "  My  friend  W.  L.  G.  will 
show  the  foregoing  to  such  persons  as  he  may  think 

l  Arthur  Tappan  (1786-1865),  a  native  of  Northampton,  Mass.,  began  his 
business  career  in  Portland,  Me.,  in  1807,  removing  thence  in  1809  to  Mon 
treal,  where  he  prospered  until  the  War  of  1812  destroyed  his  business  and 
compelled  him  to  leave  Canada  at  a  great  sacrifice.  Establishing  himself 
in  New  York  in  1815,  he  succeeded  eventually  in  building  up  a  large  and 
profitable  silk  trade,  and  became  one  of  the  best-known  merchants  in  the 
country,  whose  name  was  a  synonym  for  uprightness.  A  man  of  the  most 
simple  tastes  and  frugal  habits,  he  gave  lavishly  of  his  fortune  to  aid  the 
religious  and  philanthropic  movements  of  the  day,  and  contributed  tens  of 
thousands  of  dollars  to  the  support  of  the  Tract  and  Bible  Societies,  theo 
logical  seminaries,  and  various  educational  and  reformatory  efforts.  His 
early  espousal  of  the  slave's  cause,  and  the  moral  and  material  support 
which  he  brought  to  the  anti-slavery  movement,  were  therefore  of  incalcu 
lable  value  and  importance.  "With  a  sound  understanding,"  wrote  Mr. 
Garz'ison  of  him,  "a  great  conscience  to  the  dictates  of  which  he  was  in 
flexibly  true,  a  genuine  humility  that  did  not  wish  the  left  hand  to  know 
what  the  right  hand  performed,  a  moral  courage  that  could  look  any 
reproach  or  peril  serenely  in  the  face  in  the  discharge  of  what  seemed  to 
be  an  imperative  duty,  a  sense  of  rectitude  commensurate  with  the  golden 
rule,  a  spirit  of  philanthropy  as  comprehensive  and  universal  as  the  '  one 
blood'  of  all  nations  of  men,  a  liberality  rarely  paralleled  in  the  consecra 
tion  of  his  means  to  deliver  the  oppressed  and  to  relieve  suffering  humanity 
in  all  its  multifarious  aspects,  and  a  piety  that  proved  its  depth  and  gen 
uineness  by  the  fruits  it  bore,  his  example  is  to  be  held  up  for  imitation  to 
the  latest  posterity."  (See  'Life  of  Arthur  Tappan,'  p.  424.)  The  founder 
of  the  Tappan  family  in  this  country  settled  in  Newbury,  Mass.,  so  that 
Mr.  Garrison's  benefactor,  like  himself,  was  of  Essex  County  descent  (Hist, 
and  Genealogical  Register,  14:327,  and  for  Jan.,  1880,  pp.  48-55). 


192 


WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARKISON. 


.  25. 


CHAP.  VII. 
1830. 


Life  of  A. 

Tappan,  p. 

163- 


Boston 

Courier, 

June  ii, 

1830. 


MS. 


proper,"  added  Lundy  in  a  postscript,  "  and  give  any 
further  explanations  of  our  intentions  that  he  may  think 
necessary." 

On  his  arrival  in  New  York,  he  at  once  called  on  his 
benefactor,  Arthur  Tappan,  to  express  his  gratitude  for 
the  unexpected  service  rendered  him.  "  His  appearance 
and  deportment  at  that  time,"  wrote  Lewis  Tappan, 
"were  not  likely  to  be  forgotten.  His  manly  form, 
buoyant  spirit,  and  countenance  beaming  with  conscious 
rectitude,  attracted  the  attention  of  all  who  witnessed 
his  introduction  to  Mr.  Tappan."  He  proceeded  without 
delay  to  Newburyport,  passing  through  Boston  on  the 
10th  of  June,  and  paying  his  respects  to  friendly  Mr. 
Buckingham  of  the  Courier. 

W.  L.  Garrison  to  Jflbenezer  Dole,1  at  Hallowell,  Maine. 

BALTIMORE,  July  14,  1830. 

EESPECTED  AND  BENEVOLENT  SIR  :  At  the  request  of  my 
Counsel,  and  at  the  desire  of  my  friend  Lundy,  I  visited 
Boston  and  Newburyport  a  few  weeks  since,  in  order  to  get 
some  essential  evidence  to  be  used  in  the  civil  action  which  is 
now  pending  against  me  in  this  city ;  and  also  to  see  whether 
anything  could  be  done  towards  renewing,  and  permanently 
establishing,  the  weekly  publication  of  the  Genius.  I  left  Balti 
more  without  adequate  means  to  carry  me  home,  relying  upon 
Providence  to  open  a  door  of  relief.  On  my  arrival  in  New 
York,  I  was  accidentally  introduced  to  a  gentleman  named 
Samuel  Leggett,  who  generously  offered  me  a  passage  to 
Ehode  Island,  in  the  splendid  steamboat  President,  he  being  a 
stockholder  therein.  Thus  I  was  most  unexpectedly  relieved 
of  my  embarrassment,  and  enabled  to  reach  my  place  of  desti 
nation.  Mr.  L.  said  that  he  had  read  with  indignation  the 
proceedings  of  the  court  at  my  late  trial,  and  was  glad  to  have 
an  opportunity  of  serving  me.  I  gave  him  many  thanks  for 
his  kindness. 

I  found  the  minds  of  the  people  strangely  indifferent  to  the 
subject  of  slavery.  Their  prejudices  were  invincible, —  stronger, 

l  Ebenezer  Dole  was  born  in  Newburyport,  Mass.,  in  1776.  He  was  a 
descendant  in  the  fifth  generation  of  Richard  Dole,  of  Newbury,  by  his 
first  wife.  The  second  wife,  Hannah  Brocklebank,  widow  of  Capt.  Samuel 
Brocklebank  (ante,  p.  3),  was  an  ancestor  of  Mr.  Garrison's. 


^ET.  25.]  BALTIMOKE   JAIL.  193 

if  possible,  than  those  of  slaveholders.  Objections  were  started  CHAP.  VI  I. 
on  every  hand  ;  apologies  for  the  abominable  system  constantly  Jjj~o 
saluted  my  ears ;  obstacles  were  industriously  piled  up  in  my 
path.  The  cause  of  this  callous  state  of  feeling  was  owing  to 
their  exceeding  ignorance  of  the  horrors  of  slavery.  What  was 
yet  more  discouraging,  my  best  friends  —  without  an  exception 
— besought  me  to  give  up  the  enterprise,  and  never  to  return 
to  Baltimore !  It  was  not  my  duty  (they  argued)  to  spend  my 
time,  and  talents,  and  services,  where  persecution,  reproach 
and  poverty  were  the  only  certain  reward.  My  scheme  was 
visionary  —  fanatical  —  unattainable.  Why  should  I  make  my 
self  an  exile  from  home  and  all  that  I  held  dear  on  earth,  and 
sojourn  in  a  strange  land,  among  enemies  whose  hearts  were 
dead  to  every  noble  sentiment1?  &c.,  &c.,  &c.  I  repeat  —  all 
were  against  my  return.  But  I  desire  to  thank  God,  that  he  gave 
me  strength  to  overcome  this  selfish  and  pernicious  advice. 
Opposition  served  only  to  increase  my  ardor,  and  confirm  iny 
purpose. 

But  how  was  I  to  return  ?  I  had  not  a  dollar  in  my  pocket, 
and  my  time  was  expired.  No  one  understood  my  circum 
stances.  I  was  too  proud  to  beg,  and  ashamed  to  borrow.  My 
friends  were  prodigal  of  pity,  but  of  nothing  else.  In  the  ex 
tremity  of  my  uneasiness,  I  went  to  the  Boston  Post-office,  and 
found  a  letter  from  my  friend  Lundy,  enclosing  a  draft  for 
$100,  from  a  stranger — yourself,  as  a  remuneration  for  my 
poor,  inefficient  services  in  behalf  of  the  slaves !  Here  Provi 
dence  had  again  signally  interfered  in  my  behalf.  After  de 
ducting  the  expenses  of  travelling,  the  remainder  of  the  above- 
named  sum  was  applied  in  discharging  a  few  of  the  debts 
incurred  by  the  unproductiveness  of  the  Genius. 

As  I  lay  on  my  couch  one  night,  in  jail,  I  was  led  to  contrast 
my  situation  with  that  of  the  poor  slave.  Ah !  my  dear  Sir, 
how  wide  the  difference  !  In  one  particular  only,  (I  said,)  our 
conditions  are  similar. :  He  is  confined  to  the  narrow  limits  of 
a  plantation  —  I  to  the  narrow  limits  of  a  prison-yard.  Further 
all  parallels  fail.  My  food  is  better  and  more  abundant,  as  I 
get  a  pound  of  bread  and  a  pound  of  meat,  with  a  plentiful 
supply  of  pure  water,  per  diem.  I  can  lie  down  or  rise  up,  sit  or 
walk,  sing  or  declaim,  read  or  write,  as  fancy,  pleasure  or  profit 
dictates.  Moreover,  I  am  daily  cheered  with  the  presence  and 
conversation  of  friends  ;  —  I  am  constantly  supplied  with  fresh 
periodicals  from  every  section  of  the  country,  and,  conse 
quently,  am  advertised  of  every  new  and  interesting  occurrence. 
VOL.  L— 13 


194  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GARRISON.  [^T.  25. 


CHAP.  VII.  Occasionally  a  letter  greets  me  from  a  distant  place,  filled  with 
i8~>  consolatory  expressions,  tender  remembrances,  or  fine  compli 
ments.  If  it  rain,  my  room  is  a  shelter  j  if  the  sun  flame  too 
intensely,  I  can  choose  a  shady  retreat  ;  if  I  am  sick,  medical 
aid  is  at  hand.  Besides,  I  have  been  charged  with  a  specific 
offence  —have  had  the  privilege  of  a  trial  by  jury,  and  the  aid 
of  eminent  counsel  —  and  am  here  ostensibly  to  satisfy  the  de 
mands  of  justice.  A  few  months,  at  the  longest,  will  release  me 
from  my  captivity. 

Now,  how  is  it  with  the  slave  ?  He  gets  a  peck  of  corn 
(occasionally  a  little  more)  each  week,  but  rarely  meat  or  fish. 
He  must  anticipate  the  sun  in  rising,  or  be  whipped  severely 
for  his  somnolency.  Eain  or  shine,  he  must  toil  early  and  late 
for  the  benefit  of  another.  If  he  be  weary,  he  cannot  rest  —  for 
the  lash  of  the  driver  is  flourished  over  his  drooping  head,  or 
applied  to  his  naked  frame  ;  if  sick,  he  is  suspected  of  laziness, 
and  treated  accordingly.  For  the  most  trifling  or  innocent 
offence,  he  is  felled  to  the  earth,  or  scourged  on  his  back  till  it 
streams  with  blood.  Has  he  a  wife  and  children,  he  sees  them 
as  cruelly  treated  as  himself.  He  may  be  torn  from  tjiem,  or 
they  from  him,  at  any  moment,  never  again  to  meet  on  earth. 
Friends  do  not  visit  and  console  him  :  lie  has  no  friends.  He 
knows  not  what  is  going  on  beyond  his  own  narrow  boundaries. 
He  can  neither  read  nor  write.  The  letters  of  the  alphabet  are 
cabalistical  to  his  eyes.  A  thick  darkness  broods  over  his  soul. 
Even  the  "  glorious  gospel  of  the  blessed  God,"  which  brings 
life  and  immortality  to  perishing  man,  is  a  sealed  book  to  his 
understanding.  Nor  has  his  wretched  condition  been  imposed 
upon  him  for  any  criminal  offence.  He  has  not  been  tried  by 
the  laws  of  his  country.  No  one  has  stepped  forth  to  vindicate 
his  rights.  He  is  made  an  abject  slave,  simply  because  God  has 
given  him  a  skin  not  colored  like  his  master's  ;  and  Death,  the 
great  Liberator,  alone  can  break  his  fetters. 

Reflections  like  the  foregoing  turned  my  prison  into  a  palace. 
Can  you  wonder,  benevolent  Sir,  that  I  was  enabled  to  sing,  — 
after  such  an  amazing  contrast,  —  with  a  heart  overflowing  with 
gratitude,  — 

"  When  all  thy  mercies,  O  my  God, 

My  rising  soul  surveys, 
Transported  with  the  view  I'm  lost 
In  wonder,  love  and  praise!" 

If  the  public  sympathy  is  so  strongly  excited  in  my  be 
half,  because  justice  has  been  denied  me  in  a  single  instance, 


JEf.  25.]  BALTIMOKE   JAIL.  195 

how  ought  it  to  flame  for  TWO  MILLIONS  of  as  valuable   CHAP.  vn. 
and  immortal  souls,  who  are  crushed  beneath  the  iron  car          ~o 
of  despotism  ?     0  that  my  countrymen  would  look  at  things  in 
their  true  light !     0  that  they  might  feel  as  keenly  for  a  black 
skin  as  for  a  white  one !  forgetting  me  entirely,  and  thinking 
only  of  the  poor  slave  ! 

Your  generosity  deeply  affects  my  heart ;  but  as  I  have  done 
nothing,  and  can  do  nothing,  in  the  cause  of  African  emanci 
pation,  to  merit  such  a  gift,  I  must  receive  your  donation  only 
as  a  loan  on  interest  —  to  be  repaid  as  soon  as  Providence  may 
enable  me  to  do  so.  At  present,  I  am  opulent  in  nothing  but 
gratitude,  though  my  language  is  cold  and  penurious.  Be  good 
enough  to  make  my  acknowledgments  to  Mr.  J.  C.  Lovejoy, 
for  his  friendly  sympathies.  Friend  Lundy  desires  to  be  affec 
tionately  remembered.  May  God  bless  and  prosper  you  and 
yours,  is  the  prayer  of 

WILLIAM  LLOYD  GARRISON.! 

Mr.  Garrison  lingered  in  Baltimore  for  several  weeks 
after  the  above  letter  was  written,  but,  finding  that  his 
second  trial,  on  Todd's  personal  suit,  would  not  occur 
till  the  fall,  unable  to  wait  there  so  long,  and  satisfied 
that  he  could  expect  no  justice  from  a  Maryland  jury  or 
court,  he  determined  to  make  no  contest,  and  to  let  the 
case  go  by  default.  When  it  came  to  trial,  therefore, 
the  evidence  was  entirely  one-sided  and  substantially 
the  same  as  that  given  in  the  previous  trial,  though 
Captain  Brown  now  appeared  by  deposition,  testifying 
that  the  slaves  were  kindly  treated  on  the  voyage,  and 
claiming  credit  for  having  "  actually  relieved  their  con-  Lib.  i  •.  2. 
dition  in  some  degree,"  since  he  had  carried  them  to  "  a 
climate  much  more  congenial  to  their  nature."  He  also 
expressed  his  belief  that  this  was  the  only  case  in  which 
Mr.  Todd  had  allowed  slaves  to  be  carried  in  any  of  his 

1  Appended  to  this  letter  was  the  following  note,  which  Mr.  Dole  carefully 
cancelled  by  drawing  his  pen  emphatically  across  it  several  times  : — 

$100.  BALTIMORE,  July  14,  1830. 

For  value  received,  I  promise  to  payEbenezer  Dole,  or  his  order,  the  sum 
of  One  Hundred  Dollars,  with  interest,  on  demand. 

Witness,  Isaac  Knapp.  WM.  LLOYD  GARRISON. 

The  original  letter  is  in  possession  of  the  Union  League  Club  of  New  York. 


196  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GAKRISON.  [^T.  25. 


CHAP.  vii.   vessels,  and  his  certain  knowledge  that  Todd  had  never 
1830.        owned  a  slave  in  his  life. 

The  defendant  failing  to  appear,1  the  case  was  sub 
mitted  to  the  jury,  who  returned  a  verdict  for  Todd, 
with  damages  of  one  thousand  dollars  ;  but  payment  of 
this  was  never  enforced,  the  defendant  being  safely 
beyond  the  reach  of  Maryland  law.  The  proceedings  of 
this  trial  were  printed  in  the  first  number  of  the  Libera 
tor  by  Mr.  Garrison,  who  subsequently  published  a 
candid  commentary  on  them,  disclaiming  any  personal 
hostility  to  Mr.  Todd  and  Captain  Brown,  and  asserting 
that  in  the  publication  of  his  strictures  he  was  governed 
by  the  following  very  practical  motives  : 

Lib.  1:9.  "  1.  A  sense  of  duty,  as  an  advocate  of  freedom,  and  a  hater 
of  tyranny  and  of  all  its  abettors.  2.  A  desire  to  evince  to  the 
Southern  people,  that,  in  opposing  slavery,  I  disregarded  all 
sectional  feelings,  and  that  a  New-England  assistant  was  as 
liable  to  reprehension  as  a  Maryland  slaveholder.  3.  A  belief 
that  the  publication  would  ever  afterward  deter  Mr.  Todd  from 
venturing  into  the  domestic  slave  trade  ;  and  that  it  would  be 
a  rod  over  the  backs  of  New  -England  merchants  generally. 

tt  Having  proved,  on  my  first  trial,  my  main  charges  —  viz., 
that  the  Francis  carried  away  the  slaves,  and  even  thirteen 
more  than  I  had  stated  —  that  the  ship  was  owned  by  Mr. 
Todd  —  and  that  he  was  privy  to  the  transaction  —  I  deter 
mined  to  incur  no  expense,  and  to  give  myself  no  trouble,  in 
relation  to  the  second  suit.  I  knew  that  my  judges  must  be 
men  tainted  with  the  leprosy  of  oppression,  with  whom  it 
would  be  useless  to  contend  —  men  morally  incapable  of  giving 
an  impartial  verdict,  from  the  very  nature  of  their  pursuit. 
And  here  let  me  observe,  en  passant,  that,  though  I  do  not  say 
that  a  packed  jury  has  convicted  me,  yet,  knowing  as  I  do  how 
juries  are  selected  in  Baltimore,  and  recognizing  also  some  of 
my  condemners,  I  consider  my  trial  as  having  had  all  the  for 
mality,  but  none  of  the  substance,  of  justice.  .  .  . 

"  Mr.  Todd,  as  a  high-minded  man,  should  have  been  satis 
fied  with  the  result  of  the  former  trial.  The  second  suit  betrays 
the  meanness  of  avarice  and  the  littleness  of  revenge.  It  was 

l  "  I  am  willing  that  the  Court  should  have  all  the  sport  to  itself,"  wrote 
Garrison  to  Lundy;  "I  give  Mr.  Todd  every  advantage"  (Genius,  Nov., 
1830,  p.  114).  Todd's  attorney  accused  him  of  having  "  absconded." 


J3T.25.]  BALTIMOKE  JAIL.  197 

not  so  much  a  desire  to  clear  his  reputation,  as  to  gain  a  few   CHAP.  vn. 
dollars  or  gratify  a  vindictive  spirit,  that  induced  the  prosecu-         ijj~ 
tion. 

"  It  is  averred,  that,  '  after  his  [Garrison's]  conviction  in  the 
City  Court,  he  was  distinctly  informed  through  his  Counsel, 
that  as  Mr.  Todd  had  no  vindictive  feelings  to  gratify,  the  suit 
would  be  withdrawn,  if  a  proper  apology  and  recantation  of 
the  calumny  were  put  upon  record.'  This  is  true ;  and  it  is  also 
true  that  I  refused  to  comply  with  the  demand,  because  I  never 
will  apologize  for  telling  the  truth. 

"  With  regard  to  the  truth  of  my  allegation,  that  chains  were 
used  on  board  the  Francis,  it  could  not  be  substantiated  except 
by  summoning  the  crew.  Generally  speaking,  irons  are  insep 
arable  from  the  slave  trade ;  nor  is  this  usage  a  grievance  in 
the  eye  of  the  law,  but  a  preservative  right  on  the  part  of 
owners  and  masters  of  vessels  engaged  in  the  perilous  traffic. 
Whether  the  slaves,  in  this  instance,  were  confined  or  not,  was 
immaterial  to  the  formation  of  a  verdict.  I  am  now  disposed 
to  believe,  however,  that  no  chains  were  used  on  board  of  the 
Francis. 

u  It  is  certainly  true,  as  stated  in  my  '  libellous '  article,  that 
Mr.  Todd  has  been  remarkably  successful  in  his  commercial 
speculations ;  but  I  do  not  know  that  he  has  ever  been  guilty 
of  carrying  slaves  in  his  vessels,  excepting  in  this  particular 
instance.  He  says  that  this  was  his  first  cargo  of  souls,  and 
Capt.  Brown  corroborates  his  assertion ;  and  I  am  almost  as 
sure  that  it  will  be  his  last. 

"  Leaving  Mr.  Todd,  (to  his  relief  and  my  own,)  my  business 
is  next  with  Capt.  Brown  and  his  fanciful  affidavit.  He  says 
'  he  received  on  board  of  the  Francis  eighty-eight  black  passen 
gers' —  a  very  delicate  substitute  for  slaves.  These  passengers, 
he  concedes,  belonged  to  a  '  new  master,  named  Milligan,  who 
was  present  at  the  time  of  their  embarkation,  and  assured  them 
that  they  were  not  to  be  sold  again  at  New  Orleans  —  but  that 
he  intended  them  all  for  his  own  estate.'  No  doubt  this  trader 
in  souls  was  fruitful  in  promises ;  but  what  security  had  the 
slaves  for  their  fulfilment  ?  Nothing  but  the  mere  say-so  of 
their  unprincipled  buyer ;  or,  to  borrow  the  courtly  language 
of  Capt.  Brown,  nothing  but  'the  honor  and  integrity  of  Mr. 
Milligan.' 

"  I  do  not  care  whether  the  slaves  were  bought  expressly  for 
the  New  Orleans  market,  or  for  Milligan's  own  use ;  it  does 
not,  in  my  estimation,  alter  the  aspect  of  the  affair.  If  they 


198  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GAKEISON.  [^T.  25. 

CHAP.  vii.  were  to  be  sold,  they  might  get  a  better  —  they  might  get  a 
i8~o  worse  —  master  than  Milligan.  They  are  disposable  property  ; 
and  he  who  bought  them  to  make  money,  would  assuredly  sell 
them  for  the  same  reason,  whenever  an  opportunity  presented 
itself.  To  say  that  they  were  not  intended  for  public  sale,  is  a 
contemptible  quibble.  Of  this  I  was  aware :  that  they  were 
slaves  —  the  creatures  of  an  absolute  despotism  j  that  they 
were  human  beings,  entitled  to  all  the  privileges  and  enjoy 
ments  of  liberty  j  and  that  no  man  could  assist  in  their  oppres 
sion  without  participating  in  the  guilt  of  the  purchase.  I  must 
ever  regret  that  New  England  men  were  engaged  in  the 
inhuman  traffic,  but  not  that  I  promptly  exposed  them  to 
public  censure.  .  .  . 

"  The  decision  of  the  Court  upon  my  trial  forms  the  paradox 
of  paradoxes.  The  law  says  that  the  domestic  slave  trade  is  a 
legal  business,  and  no  more  criminal  than  the  most  innocent 
mechanical  or  commercial  pursuit ;  and,  therefore,  that  any  man 
may  honestly  engage  in  it.  Yet,  if  I  charge  an  individual  with 
following  it,  either  occasionally  or  regularly,  I  am  guilty  of  '  a 
gross  and  malicious  libel ' —  of  '  defaming  his  good  name,  fame 
and  reputation ' — of  '  foul  calumny  and  base  innuendo ' — with 
sundry  other  law  phrases,  as  set  forth  in  an  indictment !  So 
much  for  the  consistency  of  the  law  !  So  much  for  the  equity 
of  the  Court !  The  trial,  in  fact,  was  not  to  ascertain  whether 
my  charges  were  true,  but  whether  they  contained  anything  dis 
reputable  to  the  character  of  the  accused  ;  and  the  verdict  does 
not  implicate  or  condemn  me,  but  the  law. 

"  The  hat-making  business,  for  instance,  is  an  authorized 
trade.  Suppose  I  were  to  accuse  a  man  of  making  hats,  and 
should  believe,  and  publicly  declare  as  my  opinion,  that  every 
hat-maker  ought  be  imprisoned  for  life :  would  this  be  libel 
lous  "?  It  is  my  belief,  that  every  distiller  or  vender  of  ardent 
spirits  is  a  poisoner  of  the  health  and  morals  of  community ; 
but  have  I  not  a  right  to  express  this  belief  without  subjection 
to  fine  and  imprisonment  ?  I  believe,  moreover,  that  every  man 
who  kills  another,  either  in  a  duel  or  battle,  is,  in  the  eye 
of  God,  guilty  of  his  blood ;  but  is  it  criminal  or  punishable  to 
cherish  or  avow  such  an  opinion  ?  What  is  freedom  of  thought, 
or  freedom  of  expression  ?  It  is  my  right  —  and  no  body  of  men 
can  legally  deprive  me  of  it  —  to  interrogate  the  moral  aspect 
and  public  utility  of  every  pursuit  or  traffic.  True,  my  views 
may  be  ridiculous  or  fanatical ;  but  they  may  also  be  just  and 
benevolent.  Free  inquiry  is  the  essence,  the  life-blood  of  liberty ; 


Mt.  25.]  BALTIMOKE  JAIL.  199 

and  they  who  deny  men  the  right  to  use  it,  are  the  enemies  of   CHAP.  VI I. 
the  republic.  ^ 

"  In  conclusion,  I  would  remark  that,  on  my  first  trial,  his 
honor  Judge  Brice  informed  my  counsel  that  if  the  case  had 
been  submitted  to  the  Court,  instead  of  the  jury,  it  would  have 
been  thrown  out  as  containing  nothing  actionable. 

11  The  facts  are  now  before  the  public.  It  is  for  them  to  judge 
whether  imprisonment  and  a  fine  of  one  thousand  dollars  (giving 
the  worst  construction  to  my  motives  and  language)  are  not  ex 
cessive  punishment  j  and  whether,  in  the  publication  of  my 
strictures,  I  exceeded  the  freedom  of  the  press,  or  the  legitimate 
province  of  an  independent  editor."  l 

As  his  trip  to  Massachusetts  had  failed  to  afford  any 
encouragement  for  the  renewal  of  his  partnership  with 
Lundy,  and  the  revival  of  the  weekly  Genius,  Mr.  Garri 
son  resolved  to  establish  a  journal  of  his  own;  and  in 
August,  1830,  he  issued  the  following  prospectus,  of 
which  the  original  draft,  in  his  clear  handwriting,  is 
probably  the  only  complete  copy  now  in  existence : 

PROPOSALS  MS. 

FOR 

Publishing  a  weekly  periodical  in  Washington  City,  to  be  entitled 

*  THE 

PUBLIC  LIBERATOR, 

AND 

JOURNAL  OF   THE   TIMES. 


The  primary  object  of  this  publication  will  be  the  abolition 
of  slavery,  and  the  moral  and  intellectual  elevation  of  our 
colored  population.  The  Capital  of  our  Union  is  obviously  the 
most  eligible  spot  whereon  to  build  this  mighty  enterprise:— 
first,  because  (through  Congress  and  the  Supreme  Court)  it  is 
the  head  of  the  body  politic,  and  the  soul  of  the  national 
system ;  and  secondly,  because  the  District  of  Columbia  is  the 
first  citadel  to  be  carried. 

1  The  Manumission  Society  of  North  Carolina  appointed  a  committee  to 
investigate  the  subject,  and  their  report,  which  was  adopted,  was  a  vindica 
tion  of  Garrison,  with  a  recommendation  that  the  Society  should  protest 
against  the  illegal  and  unconstitutional  decision  in  his  case  (Genius  of 
Universal  Emancipation,  Oct.,  1830,  p.  98). 


200  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GARBISON.  E^T-  25- 

CHAP.  VII.  On  this  subject,  I  imagine  my  views  and  feelings  are  too  well 
~  known  to  render  an  elaborate  exposition  necessary.  In  its 
investigation,  I  shall  use  great  plainness  of  speech— believing 
that  truth  can  never  conduce  to  mischief,  and  is  best  discovered  by 
plain  ivords.  I  shall  assume,  as  self-evident  truths,  that  the 
liberty  of  a  people  is  the  gift  of  God  and  nature: —  That 
liberty  consists  in  an  independency  upon  the  will  of  another :  — 
That  by  the  name  of  slave,  we  understand  a  man  who  can 
neither  dispose  of  his  person  or  goods,  but  enjoys  all  at  the 
will  of  his  master: —  That  no  man  can  have  a  right  over 
others,  unless  it  be  by  them  granted  to  him :  —  That  virtue 
only  gives  a  natural  preference  of  one  man  above  another,  or 
why  one  should  be  chosen  rather  than  another: —  That  the 
creature  having  nothing,  and  being  nothing  but  what  the 
Creator  makes  him,  must  owe  all  to  him,  and  nothing  to  any 
one  from  whom  he  has  received  nothing :  —  That  that  which 
is  not  just,  is  not  law ;  and  that  which  is  not  law,  ought 
not  to  be  in  force:—  That  he  who  oppugns  the  public 
liberty,  overthrows  his  own,  and  is  guilty  of  the  most 
brutish  of  all  follies  whilst  he  arrogates  to  himself  that 
which  he  denies  to  all  men: —  That  whosoever  grounds  his 
pretensions  of  right  upon  usurpation  and  tyranny,  declares 
himself  to  be  an  usurper  and  a  tyrant  —  that  is,  an  enemy  to 
God  and  man  —  and  to  have  no  right  at  all :  —  That  that  which 
was  unjust  in  its  beginning,  can  of  itself  xjever  change  its 
nature :  —  That  he  who  persists  in  doing  injustice,  aggravates 
it,  and  takes  upon  himself  all  the  guilt  of  his  predecessors :  — 
That  there  is  no  safety  where  there  is  no  strength,  no  strength 
without  union,  no  union  without  justice,  no  justice  where  faith 
and  truth  are  wanting :  —  That  the  right  to  be  free  is  a  truth 
planted  in  the  hearts  of  men,  and  acknowledged  so  to  be  by  all 
that  have  hearkened  to  the  voice  of  nature,  and  disproved  by 
none  but  such  as  through  wickedness,  stupidity,  or  baseness 
of  spirit,  seem  to  have  degenerated  into  the  worst  of  beasts, 
and  to  have  retained  nothing  of  men  but  the  outward  shape,  or 
the  ability  of  doing  those  mischiefs  which  they  have  learnt  from 
their  master  the  devil. —  Vide  Algernon  Sidney's  Discourses  on 
Government  —  the  Declaration  of  American  Independence  —  the 
Constitutions  and  Sills  of  Eights  of  the  several  States,  &c.,  &c. 

I  shall  spare  no  efforts  to  delineate  the  withering  influence  of 
slavery  upon  our  national  prosperity  and  happiness,  its  awful 
impiety,  its  rapid  extension,  and  its  inevitable  consequences  if 
it  be  suffered  to  exist  without  hindrance.  It  will  also  be  my 


MT.  25.]  BALTIMORE   JAIL.  201 

purpose  to  point  out  the  path  of  safety,  and  a  remedy  for  the    CHAP.  vil. 
disease.  ^ 

The  cause  of  Peace  and  the  promotion  of  Temperance,  being 
equally  dear  to  my  heart,  will  obtain  my  zealous  and  unequivo 
cal  support.  My  creed,  as  already  published  to  the  world,  is  as 
follows: —  That  war  is  fruitful  in  crime,  misery,  revenge, 
murder,  and  everything  abominable  and  bloody  —  and,  whether 
offensive  or  defensive,  contrary  to  the  precepts  and  example  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  to  the  heavenly  spirit  of  the  gospel ;  conse 
quently,  that  no  professor  of  Christianity  should  march  to  the 
battle-field,  or  murder  any  of  his  brethren  for  the  glory  of  his 
country :  —  That  intemperance  is  a  filthy  habit  and  an  awful 
scourge,  wholly  produced  by  the  moderate,  occasional  and 
fashionable  use  of  alcoholic  liquors;  consequently,  that  it  is 
sinful  to  distil,  to  import,  to  sell,  to  drink,  or  to  offer  such 
liquors  to  our  friends  or  laborers,  and  that  entire  abstinence  is 
the  duty  of  every  individual. 

I  shall  exercise  a  strict  supervision  over  the  proceedings  of 
Congress,  and  the  characters  of  its  members.  The  representa 
tives  of  a  moral  and  religious  people  should  walk  circumspectly, 
not  as  fools  but  as  wise  men,  lest  they  be  brought  to  public 
shame.  The  Public  Liberator  shall  be  a  terror  to  evil-doers,  but 
a  praise  to  them  that  do  well. 

In  politics,  no  man  can  doubt  my  republicanism.  I  go 
for  the  people  —  the  whole  people  —  whatever  be  their  bodily 
dimensions,  temporal  conditions,  or  shades  of  color.  As  a 
man  of  peace,  I  am  not  an  admirer  of  military  men;  as  a 
friend  of  good  government,  I  deprecate  their  elevation  to 
offices  of  civil  trust.  The  prescriptive  measures  of  the  present 
Administration  have  been  such  as  no  people,  who  do  not  pos 
sess  the  abject  servility  of  slaves,  can  sanction  or  tolerate.  I 
shall  give  a  dignified  support  to  Henry  Clay  and  the  American 
System. 

The  Public  Liberator  will  contain  a  fair  proportion  of  literary 
and  miscellaneous  matter  —  all  important  foreign  and  domestic 
news  —  and  a  copious  summary  of  Congressional  transactions. 

I  now  appeal  to  the  American  people  —  to  philanthropists 
and  patriots,  to  moralists  and  Christians — for  adequate  patron 
age.  I  believe  that  a  paper  of  the  foregoing  character  is 
specially  needed  at  this  momentous  crisis :  I  am  equally  con 
fident  that  it  will  receive  the  approbation  of  all  sober,  reflect-  ' 
ing,  honest,  humane  men.  Its  columns  shall  be  open  to  all 
temperate  and  intelligent  communications  on  the  subject  of 


202 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON. 


CHAP.  VII. 
1830. 


MS. 

(slightly 
mutilated). 


slavery,  politics  or  morals.  Whatever  savors  of  bigotry  or  pro 
scription  shall  gain  no  admittance.  I  am  opposed  to  bondage, 
under  its  every  aspect  —  whether  spiritual,  civil,  political, 
mental  or  physical.  "  Implicit  faith  belongs  to  fools ;  and 
truth  is  comprehended  by  examining  principles."  My  country 
is  the  world  j  my  countrymen  are  mankind. 

The  first  number  of  the  Public  Liberator  will  be  issued  as 
soon  as  subscriptions  thereto  may  authorize  the  attempt.  Post 
masters  are  authorized  to  act  as  Agents,  until  further  arrange 
ments  can  be  made. 

Editors  of  newspapers  who  will  give  this  Prospectus  two  or 
three  gratuitous  insertions  in  their  columns,  shall  receive  my 
thanks,  and  a  reciprocation  of  the  favor  if  it  be  in  my  power 

hereafter. 

WM.  LLOYD  GARRISON. 

A  copy  of  this  prospectus  was  evidently  sent  to  Arthur 
Tappan,  who  replied  with  characteristic  promptness  and 
generosity : 

Arthur  Tappan  to  W.  L.  Garrison  at  Baltimore. 

NEW  YORK,  Aug.  9,  1830. 

DEAR  SIR  :  I  have  your  letter  of  the  5th,  and  am  glad  to  find 
that  you*are  sufiiciently  relieved  from  persecution  to  be  able  to 
turn  your  attention  to  the  project  you  have  in  view.  It  is  a 
noble  enterprise  and  worthy  of  having  consecrated  to  it  the 
best  talents  in  our  [land].  I  am  not  sufficiently  acquainted 
with  you  [to  judge]  whether  you  possess  the  various  qualifica 
tions  that  must  be  concentrated  in  the  editorial  and  publishing 
departments  to  insure  success  to  a  paper.  With  [regard  to] 
your  talent  at  writing  and  your  zeal  in  the  cause,  I  have 
information  that  is  highly  satisfactory ;  and  though  I  do  not 
feel  sufficiently  informed  to  venture  to  advise  you,  I  will  cheer 
fully  aid  you  to  the  extent  you  ask.  Annexed  is  my  check 
for$l[  ]. 

It  will  give  me  pleasure  to  see  you  [     ]  in  this  city. 
I  am,  very  respectfully,  yours, 

ARTHUR  TAPPAN. 

During  his  imprisonment,  Mr.  Garrison  had  prepared 
three  addresses  on  slavery  and  colonization,  for  delivery 
at  the  North ;  and,  after  trying  in  vain  to  obtain  a  hall 
or  meeting-house  in  Baltimore  in  which  to  give  them,  he 


Mr.  25.]  BALTIMOKE   JAIL.  203 

left  that  city  in  the  fourth  week  of  August,  and  did  not  CHAP.  vn. 
revisit  it  for  thirty-four  years.  Philadelphia  was  the  ^c,. 
first  city  in  which  he  paused,  on  his  northward  journey, 
and  he  was  there  a  week  before  he  could  obtain  the  free 
use  of  a  hall  in  which  to  hold  his  meetings.  He  was 
about  giving  up  in  despair  and  leaving  the  city,  when 
the  hall  of  the  Franklin  Institute  was  offered  to  him, 
and  on  Tuesday  evening,  August  31,  1830,  he  gave  his 
first  lecture  there  to  an  audience  composed  almost  exclu 
sively  of  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends  and  of 
colored  people.  They  listened  to  this  and  to  the  lectures 
of  the  two  succeeding  evenings  with  marked  attention 
and  interest,  though  his  "  hard  language  "  troubled  some. 
The  Inquirer,  while  professing  friendship  and  sympathy 
for  Mr.  Garrison,  reproved  him  for  his  excess  of  zeal 
and  intemperance  in  advocating  his  views  ;  yet  it  spoke 
warmly  of  his  first  lecture,  which  it  declared  to  be 
"  elevated  and  impassioned,  bespeaking  the  thorough  Phiia.  in- 
acquaintance  of  the  author  with  his  subject,  and  evin-  qm™r^f>L 
cing  the  deep  and  philanthropic  interest  which  animated 
him  in  behalf  of  the  poor  Africans.  The  declamation  of 
Mr.  Garrison,"  it  furthermore  said,  "  is  in  some  respects 
uninviting  and  defective ;  but  it  is  impossible  for  an 
intelligent  auditor  to  be  unimpressed  with  the  strength 
and  beauty  of  his  composition.  Indeed,  we  thought  the 
former  quality  too  predominant,  though  its  attractive 
ness  is  a  sufficient  excuse  for  its  display ." 

The  friends  who  welcomed  him  to  Philadelphia  were 
those  who  had  long  been  actively  interested  in  the  anti- 
slavery  cause,  and  who,  as  personal  friends  of  Lundy  and 
subscribers  to  the  Genius,  were  not  unfamiliar  with  Gar 
rison.  Among  them  were  Thomas  Shipley,  Dr.  Edwin 
P.  Atlee,  and  James  and  Lucretia  Mott,  all  of  whom 
proffered  the  hospitality  of  their  homes  and  gave  him 
words  of  encouragement.1 

l  Of  the  Motts  lie  afterwards  wrote  :  "Though  I  was  strongly  sectarian 
in  my  religious  sentiments  (Calvinistic)  at  that  time,  and  hence  uncharita 
ble  in  judgment  touching  theological  differences  of  opinion,  ...  yet 


204  WILLIAM  LLOYD    GARRISON.  [^T.  25. 

CHAP.  vii.  In  New  York  he  repeated  his  lectures  in  Broadway 
^  Hall  to  small  but  respectable  audiences,  Arthur  and 
Lewis  Tappan  honoring  him  with  their  presence.  Thence 
he  went  to  New  Haven,  and  was  welcomed  by  his  friend 
Simeon  S.  Jocelyn  to  the  pulpit  of  the  colored  church  in 
that  city,  of  which,  although  a  white  man,  he  was  the 

MS., Feb. 5,   pastor.      "I   spoke    to  mixed  audiences,"  records    Mr. 

^fjohnson.  Garrison,  "  and  naturally  to  the  hearty  approval  of  my 
colored  hearers.  I  had  a  prolonged  interview  with  Rev. 
Leonard  Bacon,  D.  D.,  and  an  earnest  discussion  respect 
ing  the  merits  of  the  American  Colonization  Society,  he 
being  its  special  champion.  I  was  greatly  impressed 
with  his  ability,  and  equally  so  with  the  Jesuitism  of  his 
reasoning.  At  Hartford  I  lectured  in  a  colored  church, 
and  roused  up  a  good  deal  of  interest  in  the  breasts  of 
the  colored  inhabitants.  In  all  these  places  converts  and 
friends  were  made  among  the  whites." 

From  Hartford  he  addressed  this  letter  to  Rev.  George 
Shepard,  of  Hallowell,  Maine,  of  whose  church  his  recent 
benefactor,  Ebenezer  Dole,  was  a  member,  and  who  had 
consulted  him  with  reference  to  an  offer  which  Mr.  Dole 
proposed  to  make,  anonymously,  of  $50  premium  for  the 
best  tract  on  slavery : 

W.  L.  Garrison  to  Rev.  George  Shepard. 

MS.  HARTFORD,  CT.,  Sept.  13,  1830. 

Your  very  interesting  and  important  letter  of  the  18th  ult. 
was  duly  received  ;  but  circumstances  have  prevented  my  giv 
ing  it  a  suitable  reply  till  the  present  moment. 

E.  Dole.          Towards  the  unknown  individual  who  generously  offers  a 
premium  of  $50  for  the  best  tract  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  I 

they  manifested  a  most  kind,  tolerant,  catholic  spirit,  and  allowed  none  of 
these  considerations  to  deter  them  from  giving  me  their  cordial  approba 
tion  and  cheering  countenance  as  an  advocate  of  the  slave.  If  my  mind 
has  since  become  liberalized  in  any  degree,  (and  I  think  it  has  burst  every 
sectarian  trammel,) — if  theological  dogmas  which  I  once  regarded  as 
essential  to  Christianity,  I  now  repudiate  as  absurd  and  pernicious,  —  I  am 
largely  indebted  to  them  for  the  change "  (Lib.  19 ;  178 ;  '  Life  of  James 
and  Lucretia  Mott/pp.  29G,  297). 


JET.  25.]  BALTIMORE   JAIL.  205 

feel  an  attachment  of  soul  which  words  cannot  express;  and  CHAP.  VII. 
for  yourself,  sir,  I  beg  you  to  accept  my  thanks  for  the  sym-  ~Q 
pathy  which  you  express  in  behalf  of  the  poor  slave.  Alas ! 
that  so  few  in  our  land  feel  an  interest  in  the  great  cause  of 
emancipation !  But  let  us  not  despair.  The  time  must  come  — 
for  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts  has  spoken  it  —  when  all 
oppression  shall  cease,  and  every  man  shall  sit  under  his  own 
vine  and  fig- tree — there  being  none  to  molest  or  make  him 
afraid.  We  may  not  live  to  see  that  glorious  day,  but  may 
hasten  it  by  our  prayers,  our  toils,  and  our  sacrifices  ;  nor  shall 
we  lose  our  reward — for  the  King  of  Heaven  may  peradventure 
bestow  that  noblest  of  panegyrics  upon  us,  "  Well  done,  good 
and  faithful  servants ! " 

At  the  present  day,  American  slavery  is  unequalled  for 
cruelty  : —  antiquity  cannot  produce  its  parallel.  And  yet  it  is 
boastingly  proclaimed  to  the  world,  that  this  is  the  land  of  the 
free,  and  the  asylum  of  the  oppressed !  Was  liberty  ever  so 
degraded  in  the  eyes  of  mankind,  or  justice  mocked  with  such 
impunity  ? 

For  myself  I  hold  no  fellowship  with  slave-owners.  I  will 
not  make  a  truce  with  them  even  for  a  single  hour.  I  blush 
for  them  as  countrymen  —  I  knoiv  that  they  are  not  Christians ; 
and  the  higher  they  raise  their  professions  of  patriotism  or 
piety,  the  stronger  is  my  detestation  of  their  hypocrisy.  They 
are  dishonest  and  cruel  —  and  God,  and  the  angels,  and  devils, 
and  the  universe  know  that  they  are  without  excuse. 

"  They  hear  not — see  not — know  not;   for  their  eyes 
Are  covered  with  thick  mists — they  will  not  see; 
The  sick  earth  groans  with  man's  impieties, 
And  heaven  is  tired  with  man's  perversity.1" 

With  regard  to  the  outlines  of  the  contemplated  tract  which 
you  have  given,  I  think  they  are  highly  important  —  but  so 
broad,  that  their  discussion  could  not  be  easily  or  efficiently 
embraced  within  twelve  duodecimo  pages.  I  would  therefore 
suggest,  with  deference,  the  expediency  of  confining  the  object 
of  the  tract  to  one  of  these  two  points  —  namely,  "  The  Duty  of 
Ministers  and  Churches,  of  all  denominations,  to  clear  their 
skirts  from  the  blood  of  the  slaves,  and  to  make  the  holding  of 
slaves  a  barrier  to  communion  and  church-membership  "  —  or, 
secondly,  in  your  own  language,  "  Suggestions  as  to  the  best 
ways  and  means  to  restore  the  slaves  to  their  unalienable 
rights,  and  elevate  them  to  that  standing  in  society  to  which, 


206  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAKRISON.  [^T.  25. 


CHAP.  VII.    as  brethren  of  the  human  family,  and  fellow-heirs  to  immortal  - 
~          ity,  they  are  entitled." 

Both  of  the  above  points  are  eminently  weighty,  and  would 
require  separate  treatises  in  their  elucidation.  I  am  decidedly 
in  favor  of  the  one  first  mentioned  ;  because  all  plans  will  be 
likely  to  prove  nugatory  as  long  [as]  the  church  refuses  to  act 
on  the  subject  —  it  must  be  purified,  as  by  fire.  It  must  not 
support,  it  must  not  palliate,  the  horrid  system.  It  seems 
morally  impossible  that  a  man  can  be  a  slaveholder  and  a 
follower  of  the  Lamb  at  the  same  time.  A  Christian  slaveholder 
is  as  great  a  solecism  as  a  religious  atheist,  a  sober  drunkard, 
or  an  honest  thief.  In  1826,  the  Synod  of  Ohio  held  an  ani 
mated  discussion  on  a  question  which  had  been  before  referred 
to  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  viz.  : 
11  Is  the  holding  of  slaves  man-stealing?"  in  the  affirmative  of 
which  a  large  majority  concurred.  This  is  a  rational  view  of 
the  subject  j  consequently  no  slaveholder  ought  to  be  em 
braced  within  the  pale  of  a  Christian  church. 

Is  not  the  fact  enough  to  make  one  hang  his  head,  that 
Christian  men  and  Christian  ministers  (for  so  they  dare  to  call 
themselves)  are  slave-owners  ?  Are  there  not  Balaams  in  our 
land  who  prophesy  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  but  covet  the 
presents  of  Balak  ?  What  !  shall  he  who  styles  himself  an  am 
bassador  of  Christ  —  who  preaches  what  angels  sung,  "  Peace 
on  earth,  good-will  to  man"  —  who  tells  me,  Sabbath  after  Sab 
bath,  that  with  God  there  is  no  respect  of  persons  —  that  my 
Creator  commands  me  to  do  unto  others  as  I  would  that  they 
should  do  unto  me  —  to  love  my  neighbor  as  myself  —  to  call  no 
man  master  —  to  be  meek  and  merciful,  and  blameless  —  to  let 
my  light  so  shine  before  men  that  they  may  see  my  good  works, 
and  glorify  my  Father  who  is  in  heaven  —  to  shun  every  ap 
pearance  of  evil  —  to  rather  suffer  myself  to  be  defrauded  than 
defraud  j  —  nay,  who  tells  me,  as  the  injunction  of  my  Judge, 
to  love  even  my  enemies,  to  bless  them  that  curse  me,  to  do 
good  to  them  that  hate  me,  and  to  pray  for  them  that  despite- 
fully  uso  and  persecute  me  —  (alas!  how  has  he  needed  the 
prayers  and  forgiveness  of  his  poor  degraded,  persecuted 
slaves  !  )  —  I  say,  shall  such  a  teacher  presume  to  call  the 
creatures  of  God  his  property  —  to  deal  in  bones  and  sinews, 
and  souls  —  to  whip  and  manacle  and  brand  —  merely  because 
his  victims  differ  in  complexion  from  himself,  and  because  the 
tyrannous  laws  of  a  State  and  the  corrupt  usages  of  Society 
justify  his  conduct  ?  Yet  so  it  is.  By  his  example,  he  sanctifies, 


^ET.  25.]  BALTIMORE   JAIL.  207 

in  the  eyes  of  ungodly  men,  a  system  of  blood,  and  violates   CHAP.  vii. 
every  commandment  of  Jehovah.     Horrible  state  of  things !  ~Q 

"  For  this  thing  which  it  cannot  bear,  the  earth  is  disquieted. 
The  Gospel  of  Peace  and  Mercy  preached  by  him  who  steals, 
buys  or  sells  the  purchase  of  Messiah's  blood  !  —  Rulers  of  the 
Church  making  merchandise  of  their  brethren's  souls  !  —  and 
Christians  trading  the  persons  of  men !  — These  are  they  who 
are  lovers  of  their  own  selves  —  Covetous  —  Proud  —  Fierce  — 
Men  of  corrupt  minds,  who  resist  the  truth  —  Having  the  form 
of  godliness,  but  denying  the  power  thereof.  From  such  turn 
away." 

I  think  that  an  able  and  faithful  tract  upon  this  [subject]  is 
greatly  needed,  and  would  be  the  means  of  incalculable  good. — 
I  submit  the  choice  of  topics  to  yourself,  and  to  the  benevolent 
individual  who  offers  the  premium. 

There  is  no  Society  in  existence  bearing  the  title  of  the 
"American  Abolition  Society."  I  think  the  tract  had  better 
come  out  to  the  public  under  the  auspices  of  the  "Pennsylvania 
Society  for  promoting  the  Abolition  of  Slavery,  the  relief  of 
free  negroes  unlawfully  held  in  bondage,  and  for  improving  the 
Condition  of  the  African  Race."  Agreeably  to  your  request, 
I  select  three  members  of  that  Society  to  decide  upon  the 
merits  of  the  various  tracts  that  may  be  presented  —  namely, 
the  venerable  William  Rawle,  LL.  D.,  President,  and  Jonas 
Preston,  M.  D.,  and  Thomas  Shipley,  Vice- Presidents  of  said 
Society  —  all  thorough-going  reformers  and  highly  intelligent 
and  respectable  men,  residents  of  Philadelphia.  The  premium- 
money  may  be  deposited  in  the  hands  of  the  President,  Wm. 
Rawle. 

I  am  now  on  an  Eastern  tour  for  the  purpose  of  delivering 
public  addresses  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  of  obtaining  sub 
scriptions  to  my  proposed  new  paper  at  Washington  City,  of 
establishing  a  National  Anti-Slavery  Tract  Society,  &c.,  &c.  I 
shall  leave  Hartford  for  Boston  this  morning,  where  I  shall 
probably  reside  some  time,  and  to  which  place  please  to  address 
your  next  letter  as  soon  as  convenient. 

Your  friend  and  well-wisher  till  death, 

WM.  LLOYD  GARRISON. 

Mr.  Garrison  now  proceeded  to  Newburyport,  resolved 
that  his  native  town  should  be  the  first  place  in  Massa 
chusetts  to  hear  his  lectures  on  slavery.  Dr.  Daniel 
Dana,  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  church  on  Harris  Street, 


208  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GARRISON.  [^T.  25. 


CHAP.  vii.  readily  agreed  to  give  him  the  meeting-house  for  that 
1830.  purpose,  but  when  the  audience  gathered  for  the  first 
lecture,  the  doors  of  the  sanctuary  were  closed,  and  it 
appeared  that  the  Trustees  had  held  a  meeting  and  over 
ruled  their  pastor,  who  could  only  express  his  regret  and 
chagrin  that  they  had  refused  to  sustain  him.  The  Todd 
influence  was  still  all-powerful,  and  endeavored  to  crush 
the  offending  editor,  who  left  Newburyport  in  disgust 
for  Amesbury.  As  he  was  driving  up  the  hill  beyond 
the  Chain  Bridge,  he  met  his  friend  Dr.  Luther  F.  Dim- 
mick,  pastor  of  the  Second  Congregational  church. 
"  William,"  said  the  Doctor,  "  I  thought  you  were  going 
to  lecture  last  night'7;  and  on  William's  explaining  why 
he  had  not  done  so,  the  Doctor  declared  that  he  should 
have  his  church  for  as  many  lectures  as  he  wanted.  It 
was  agreed  that  he  should  return  to  Newburyport  as  soon 
as  he  had  delivered  his  lectures  in  Amesbury,  and  these  he 

Sept.  24-26,  gave,  probably  on  three  consecutive  evenings,  before  the 
Amesbury  and  Salisbury  Lyceum.  The  Lyceum  room 
was  so  crowded  during  the  first  lecture  that  Eev.  Mr. 
Damon's  rneeting-house  was  secured  for  the  second  and 
third  addresses,  and  filled. 

Sept.  28,  "  The  first  lecture,"  wrote  a  correspondent  of  the  Newbury- 
1830.  pOr^.  £[erald,  "  endeavored  to  refute  the  strongest  and  most 
popular  objections  to  the  immediate  abolition  of  slavery,  and 
to  show  that  expediency,  as  well  as  justice,  urged  the  necessity 
of  the  measure.  The  second  pointed  out  slavery  as  it  exists  in 
law,  and  in  fact,  in  our  country,  the  speaker  illustrating 
his  remarks  by  several  anecdotes  of  the  extreme  cruelty  exer 
cised  towards  the  slaves  of  our  Southern  States,  some  of  which 
instances  he  told  us  he  himself  had  witnessed.  These  cruelties 
he  described  with  so  much  feeling,  and  in  language  so  forcible, 
that  one  might  almost  fancy  he  heard  the  groans,  and  viewed 
the  lacerated  bodies,  of  the  poor  sufferers.  While  in  this  part 
of  his  discourse,  all  his  feelings  and  power  of  soul  appeared  to 
be  brought  into  action,  and  so  vividly  did  he  describe  the  suffer 
ings  of  the  slaves  that  the  audience  seemed  to  be  completely 
carried  along  with  him,  and  to  partake,  in  some  degree  at  least, 
of  the  enthusiasm  of  the  speaker.  ...  In  the  third  and 
last  discourse  we  were  told  that  the  crime,  the  infamy,  and  the 


*>-25.J  BALTIMORE   JAIL.  209 

curse  of  slavery  are  national,  and  that  we  New  Englanders  are    CHAP.  VII. 
equally  culpable  with  the  slave-dealers  and  slave-owners.     He         ^0 
also  spoke  of  the  Colonization  Society.    It  is,  he  says,  lulling 
the  American  people  to  sleep." 

These  meetings  in  Amesbury  sowed  good  seed,  and 
ripened  public  sentiment  for  the  early  formation  of  two 
anti-slavery  societies  there,  one  of  men  and  the  other  of  wo 
men.  Returning  without  delay  to  Newburyport,  Mr.  Gar 
rison  delivered  his  first  lecture  in  Dr.  Dimmick's  church, 
on  the  evening  of  September  28,  to  a  large  audience ; 
but  the  next  evening  the  doors  were  closed  against  him, 
and  Dr.  Dimmick  found  himself  as  helpless  in  the  hands 
of  his  Trustees  as  Dr.  Dana  had  been.  Indignant  at  this 
insulting  treatment,  Mr.  Garrison  addressed  the  following 
communication  to  the  editor  of  the  Herald,  and,  shaking 
the  dust  of  the  town  from  his  feet,  went  back  .to  Boston  : 

SIR  :  Twice  have  the  inhabitants  of  this  town  been  deceived  N.  P. 
in  relation  to  the  delivery  of  my  Addresses  on  Slavery.  Per- 
mit  me  to  exonerate  myself  from  blame  in  this  matter.  Circum 
stances  beyond  my  control  have  prevented  the  fulfilment  of  my 
pledges.  Toward  those  who  have  exerted  their  influence,  with 
a  malignity  and  success  which  are  discreditable  to  themselves 
and  the  place,  in  order  to  seal  my  lips  on  a  subject  which  in 
volves  the  temporal  and  eternal  condition  of  millions  of  our 
countrymen,  I  entertain  no  ill-will,  but  kindness  and  compas 
sion.  Let  them  answer  to  God  and  posterity  for  their  conduct ; 
for  even  this  communication  shah1  be  read  by  future  generations, 
and  shall  identify  the  ashes  of  these  enemies  of  their  species. 

If  I  had  visited  Newburyport  to  plead  the  cause  of  twenty 
white  men  in  chains,  every  hall  and  every  meeting-house  would 
have  been  thrown  open,  and  the  fervor  of  my  discourses  an 
ticipated  and  exceeded  by  my  fellow-townsmen.  The  fact  that 
two  millions  of  colored  beings  are  groaning  in  bondage,  in  this 
land  of  liberty,  excites  no  interest  nor  pity  ! 

I  leave  this  morning  for  Boston.  A  circumstantial  account 
of  my  treatment  in  this  my  native  place  will  probably  be  given, 
in  a  few  days,  in  one  of  the  city  papers. 

Your  grateful  servant,  and  undaunted  friend  to  the  cause  of 
universal  liberty,  WM.  LLOYD  GARRISON. 

Thursday  morning,  Sept.  30,  1830. 
VOL.  I.— 14 


210  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON.  [^T.  25. 


Two  days  later,  a  brief  editorial  appeared  in  the 
Oct.  2,  1830.  columns  of  the  Boston  Evening  Transcript,  announcing 
Mr.  Garrison's  arrival  in  Boston,  and  describing  the 
shabby  treatment  to  which  he  had  been  subjected  in 
Newburyport.  The  article1  concluded  with  some  com 
plimentary  words  about  the  young  reformer  in  a  cause 
"  which  he  could  never  hope  to  see  perfected,  but  of 
which  he  would  long  be  remembered  as  an  early  and 
laborious  pionefer." 

Encouraged  by  this  kindly  reception,  Mr.  Garrison  sent 
three  short  communications  to  the  Transcript  during  the 
Oct.  13,  ensuing  month.  In  one  of  these  he  called  attention  to  the 
recent  rendition  of  two  fugitive  slaves  (man  and  wife)  who 
had  escaped  by  secreting  themselves  on  a  brig  from  New 
Orleans  to  Boston,  but  who,  being  discovered  before  the 
vessel  reached  port,  were  arrested  and  carried  before  a 
magistrate  on  its  arrival,  and  sent  back  into  slavery  with 
out  producing  the  least  ripple  of  excitement  in  the  com- 
Oct.  12,  munity.  In  another  article  he  commented  on  the  incon 
sistency  and  hypocrisy  of  the  whites  of  Charleston, 
Richmond  and  Baltimore,  in  noisily  celebrating  the 
overthrow  of  Charles  the  Tenth,  of  France,  while  hold 
ing  their  fellow-beings  in  a  state  of  servitude  which,  for 
cruelty  and  debasement,  found  no  parallel  in  European 
despotism.  This  stirred  the  wrath  of  the  Charleston 
(S.  C.)  City  Gazette,  which  declared  it  "  impertinence"  in 
a  man  who  had  "  lately  been  punished  for  similar  imper 
tinences,"  to  meddle  with  the  concerns  of  other  people, 
and  expressed  the  wish  that  he  might  be  furnished  with 
some  "  decent,  honest  employment,"  to  keep  him  out  of 
NOV.  i,  1830.  mischief.  The  Transcript  copied  this  paragraph  as  "a 
fair  offset  "to  the  article  which  had  elicited  it;  where 
upon  Mr.  Garrison  replied  in  a  letter  of  such  vigor  that 
the  timid  editor  printed  it  with  confessed  reluctance,  and 
a  preliminary  sermon  to  his  correspondent  on  the  rash- 

1  Doubtless  written  by  the  editor,  Lynde  M.  Walter,  who  had  established 
the  Transcript  only  a  few  weeks  previously.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Har 
vard  College  in  the  famous  class  of  1817. 


JET.  25.]  BALTIMOKE   JAIL.  211 

ness  and  unwisdom  of  using  harsh  or  intemperate  Ian-  CHAP.  vu. 
guage  in  discussing  so  delicate  a  subject  as  slavery.  It  ^o. 
was  evident  that  the  latter's  communications  would  no 
longer  be  welcomed  to  the  Transcript's  columns,  and  this 
letter  —  in  which,  as  "a  New-England  mechanic  who  is 
not  ashamed  of  his  trade,"  he  asked  the  Charleston 
"  scribbler "  whether  it  was  a  "  decent,  honest  employ 
ment  "  to  "  reduce  the  creatures  of  God  to  a  level  with 
brutes,  to  lacerate  and  brand  their  bodies  with  more  than 
savage  cruelty,  and  to  keep  their  souls  in  thick,  impene 
trable  darkness" — was  his  last  word.  "  "When,"  he  fer 
vently  declared, — 

"  When  I  shall  become  so  mean  and  dastardly,  so  lost  to  every  Transcript, 
feeling  of  humanity,  every  principle  of  justice,  every  conviction  "^08' 
of  conscience,  as  to  fetter  and  sell  my  own  countrymen  or 
others,  may  I  receive  (as  I  ought  to  receive,  if  capital  punish 
ment  be  lawful,)  a  just  reward  for  my  conduct  at  the  gallows, 
like  any  other  pirate  ;  may  my  memory  be  accursed  to  the  end 
of  time  j  and  may  the  lightnings  of  heaven  consume  my  body 
to  ashes.  I  join  with  the  eloquent  and  in'dignant  Brougham  — 
'  Tell  me  not  of  rights — talk  not  of  the  property  of  the  planter 
in  his  slaves.  I  deny  the  right — I  acknowledge  not  the  property. 
The  principles,  the  feelings  of  our  common  nature  rise  in  re 
bellion  against  it.  Be  the  appeal  made  to  the  understanding 
or  to  the  heart,  the  sentence  is  the  same  that  rejects  it.  While 
men  despise  fraud,  and  loathe  rapine,  and  abhor  blood,  they 
shall  reject  with  indignation  the  wild  and  guilty  fantasy  that 
man  can  hold  property  in  man. ' " 

During  the  first  fortnight  after  his  arrival  in  Boston, 
Mr.  Garrison  vainly  endeavored  to  procure,  without 
cost,  a  place  in  which  to  deliver  his  lectures  j  and  he 

finally  sent  this  advertisement  to  the  Courier :  Oct.  12, 

1830. 

WANTED. —  For  three  evenings,  a  Hall  or  Meeting-house  (the 
latter  would  be  preferred),  in  which  to  vindicate  the  rights  of 
TWO  MILLIONS  of  American  citizens  who  are  now  groaning 
in  servile  chains  in  this  boasted  land  of  liberty  j  and  also  to 
propose  just,  benevolent,  and  constitutional  measures  for  their 
relief.  As  the  addresses  will  be  gratuitous,  and  as  the  cause  is 
of  public  benefit,  I  cannot  consent  to  remunerate  any  society 


212  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKKISON.  [^T.  25. 


CHAP.  VII.    for  the  use  of  its  building.     If  this  application  fails,  I  pro- 
i8~o         Pose  ^°  a^dress  *ne  citizens  of  Boston  in  the  open  air,  on  the 
Common-  WM.  LLOYD  GARRISON. 

No.  30,  Federal  Street,  Oct.  11,  1830. 

This  appeal  was  quickly  answered,  but  not  by  any  of 
the  Christian  ministers  or  churches  of  Boston.  It  was 
left  for  a  society  of  avowed  "infidels"1  to  save  the  city 
from  the  shame  of  sealing  all  its  doors  against  the 
slave's  advocate,  and  to  offer  him  their  hall  for  his  three 
lectures,  although,  as  a  body  and  individually,  they  had 
no  personal  acquaintance  or  sympathy  with  him,  and  no 
especial  interest  in  his  cause.  Two  days  later,  the  papers 
announced  that  Mr.  Garrison  would  deliver  his  first  lec 
ture  on  Friday  evening,  October  15,  in  Julien  Hall,  at  the 
northwest  corner  of  Milk  and  Congress  Streets.2 

It  was  not  without  reluctance  that  the  young  Baptist 
accepted  this  courteous  offer  from  a  sect  whom  he  had 
so  recently  denounced  and  held  up  for  reprobation,  and 
who  now  taught  him,  and  the  Christian  brotherhood  to 
whom  he  had  vainly  appealed,  a  lesson  of  charity  and 
toleration  that  might  well  cause  them  to  blush.  Accord 
ingly,  in  acknowledging,  at  the  beginning  of  his  first  lec 
ture,  his  indebtedness  to  them  and  his  shame  that  the 
churches  had  allowed  themselves  to  be  thus  surpassed, 
he  felt  it  incumbent  upon  him  to  explain  that  he  was 
very  far  from  sympathizing  with  their  views  on  reli 
gious  questions,  and  that  he  believed  slavery  could  be 
abolished  only  through  the  power  of  the  Gospel  and  of 
the  Christian  religion. 

The  hall  was  pretty  well  filled  when  he  began  his 
address,  and  the  audience  included  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher, 
Rev.  Ezra  S.  Gannett,  Deacon  Moses  Grant,  and  John 
Tappan  (a  brother  of  Arthur)  —  the  last  two,  well-known 
and  respected  merchants  ;  Rev.  Samuel  J.  May,  then 

1  Under  the  leadership  of  Abner  Kneeland. 

2  The  building,  a  brick  structure,  was  demolished  and  replaced  by  another 
building  shortly  before  the  great  fire  of  1872,  and  the  site  is  now  (1885) 
covered  by  the  Post-office. 


JET.  25.] 


BALTIMOKE   JAIL. 


213 


settled  as  a  Unitarian  minister  at  Brooklyn,  Connecti-   CHAP.  vn. 
cut,  and  the  only  one  of  the  denomination  in  that  State  ;        I^0 
his  cousin,  Samuel  E.  Sewall,  a  young  Boston  lawyer; 
and  his  brother-in-law,  A.  Bronson  Alcott.1   Mr.  May  has 
thus  described  the  occasion  : 


"  Presently  the  young  man  arose,  modestly,  but  with  an  air 
of  calm  determination,  and  delivered  such  a  lecture  as  he  only, 
I  believe,  at  that  time,  could  have  written  ;  for  he  only  had  had 
his  eyes  so  anointed  that  he  could  see  that  outrages  perpetrated 
upon  Africans  were  wrongs  done  to  our  common  humanity  ;  he 
only,  I  believe,  had  had  his  ears  so  completely  unstopped  of 
'  prejudice  against  color '  that  the  cries  of  enslaved  black  men 
and  black  women  sounded  to  him  as  if  they  came  from  brothers 
and  sisters. 

"  He  began  with  expressing  deep  regret  and  shame  for  the 
zeal  he  had  lately  manifested  in  the  Colonization  cause.  It 
was,  he  confessed,  a  zeal  without  knowledge.  He  had  been  de 
ceived  by  the  misrepresentations  so  diligently  given  through 
out  the  free  States,  by  Southern  agents,  of  the  design  and 
tendency  of  the  Colonization  scheme.  During  his  few  months' 
residence  in  Maryland  he  had  been  completely  undeceived. 
He  had  there  found  out  that  the  design  of  those  who  originated, 
and  the  especial  intentions  of  those  in  the  Southern  States  that 
engaged  in  the  plan,  were  to  remove  from  the  country,  as  '  a 

l  It  was  natural  that  Mr.  Sewall  should  find  himself  in  sympathy  with 
Mr.  Gai-rison.  His  distinguished  ancestor,  Judge  Samuel  Sewall,  was  one 
of  the  earliest  opponents  of  slavery  in  America,  and  published  an  anti- 
slavery  pamphlet,  '  The  Selling  of  Joseph  ;  a  Memorial,'  in  1700  (reprinted 
in  Williams's  'History  of  the  Negro  Race  in  America,'  1 :  210).  (For  his 
descent  from  Judge  Sewall,  see  Titcomb's  '  Early  New  England  People,' 
pp.  217-223.)  Mr.  May  (who  was  born  in  1797,  and  hence  was  eight  years 
Mr.  Garrison's  senior)  was  a  son  of  Col.  Joseph  May,  of  Boston,  a  highly 
respected  merchant,  and  both  he  and  his  cousin  Mr.  Sewall  graduated  from 
Harvard  College  in  1817,  in  the  same  class  with  David  Lee  Child,  George 
Bancroft,  George  B.  Emerson,  Caleb  Gushing,  Samuel  A.  Eliot,  Stephen 
Salisbury,  Stephen  H.  Tyng,  and  Robert  F.  Wallcut.  It  is  worthy  of  note 
that  Mr.  May  preached  his  first  sermon  in  December,  1820,  on  the  Sunday 
following  the  delivery  of  Daniel  Webster's  Plymouth  Rock  oration,  and 
was  so  impressed  by  the  latter's  fervid  appeal  to  the  ministry  to  denounce 
the  slave-trade  that  he  read  the  fifty-eighth  chapter  of  Isaiah  in  his  morn 
ing  service.  Five  years  later  he  was  interested  in  the  Rev.  John  Rankin's 
'  Letters  on  Slavery,'  and  when  Lundy  made  his  second  visit  to  New  Eng 
land,  in  June,  1828,  he  was  welcomed  to  Brooklyn,  Conn.,  by  Mr.  May,  and 
held  a  large  meeting  in  the  latter's  church.  (See  '  Memoir  of  Samuel 
Joseph  May,'  pp.  139,  140.) 


May's  Rec 
ollections  of 
our  A.  S. 
Conflict,  pp. 
18-20. 


214 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON. 


.  25. 


1830. 


CHAP.  VII.  disturbing  element  in  slaveholding  communities,  all  the  free 
colored  people,  so  that  the  bondmen  might  the  more  easily  be 
held  in  subjection.  He  exhibited  in  graphic  sketches  and  glow 
ing  colors  the  suffering  of  the  enslaved,  and  denounced  the 
plan  of  Colonization  as  devised  and  adapted  to  perpetuate  the 
system,  and  intensify  the  wrongs  of  American  slavery,  and 
therefore  utterly  undeserving  of  the  patronage  of  lovers  of 
liberty  and  friends  of  humanity. 

"  Never  before  was  I  so  affected  by  the  speech  of  man. 
When  he  had  ceased  speaking  I  said  to  those  around  me  :  '  That 
is  a  providential  man ;  he  is  a  prophet ;  he  will  shake  our  nation 
to  its  centre,  but  he  will  shake  slavery  out  of  it.  We  ought  to 
know  him,  we  ought  to  help  him.  Come,  let  us  go  and  give  him 
our  hands.'  Mr.  Sewall  and  Mr.  Alcott  went  up  with  me,  and 
we  introduced  each  other.  I  said  to  him  :  '  Mr.  Garrison,  I  am 
not  sure  that  I  can  indorse  all  you  have  said  this  evening.  Much 
of  it  requires  careful  consideration.  But  I  am  prepared  to  em 
brace  you.  I  am  sure  you  are  called  to  a  great  work,  and  I 
mean  to  help  you.'  Mr.  Sewall  cordially  assured  him  of  his 
readiness  also  to  cooperate  with  him.  Mr.  Alcott  invited  him 
to  his  home.  He  went,  and  we  sat  with  him  until  twelve  that 
night,  listening  to  his  discourse,  in  which  he  showed  plainly 
that  immediate,  unconditional  emancipation,  without  expatriation, 
was  the  right  of  every  slave,  and  could  not  be  withheld  by  his  master 
an  hour  without  sin.  That  night  my  soul  was  baptized  in  his 
spirit,  and  ever  since  I  have  been  a  disciple  and  fellow-laborer 
of  William  Lloyd  Garrison. 

"  The  next  morning,  immediately  after  breakfast,  I  went  to 
his  boarding-house  and  stayed  until  two  P.  M.  I  learned  that 
he  was  poor,  dependent  upon  his  daily  labor  for  his  daily  bread, 
and  intending  to  return  to  the  printing  business.  But,  before 
he  could  devote  himself  to  his  own  support,  he  felt  that  he 
must  deliver  his  message,  must  communicate  to  persons  of 
prominent  influence  what  he  had  learned  of  the  sad  condition 
of  the  enslaved,  and  the  institutions  and  spirit  of  the  slave 
holders  5  trusting  that  all  true  and  good  men  would  discharge 
the  obligation  pressing  upon  them  to  espouse  the  cause  of  the 
poor,  the  oppressed,  the  down-trodden.  He  read  to  me  letters 
he  had  addressed  to  Dr.  Channing,  Dr.  Beecher,  Dr.  Edwards, 
the  Hon.  Jeremiah  Mason,  and  Hon.  Daniel  Webster,  holding 
up  to  their  view  the  tremendous  iniquity  of  the  land,  and  beg 
ging  them,  ere  it  should  be  too  late,  to  interpose  their  great 
power  in  the  Church  and  State  to  save  our  country  from  the 


W.E.Chan- 
ning,  Lyman 
Beecher,  Jus 
tin  Edwards. 


,  li'tifliijJihiCSil 


.  25.] 


BALTIMORE   JAIL. 


215 


terrible  calamities  which  the  sin  of  slavery  was  bringing  upon    CHAP.  VI I. 
us.    These  letters  were  eloquent,  solemn,  impressive.    I  wonder         I~Q 
they  did  not  produce  a  greater  effect.     It  was  because  none  to 
whom  he  appealed,  in  public  or  private,  would  espouse  the 
cause,  that  Mr.  Garrison  found  himself  left  and  impelled  to 
become  the  leader  of  the  great  anti-slavery  reform.     .     .     . 

"  The  hearing  of  Mr.  Garrison's  lectures  was  a  great  epoch  in 
my  own  life.  The  impression  which  they  made  upon  my  soul  has 
never  been  effaced }  indeed,  they  moulded  it  anew.  They  gave 
a  new  direction  to  my  thoughts,  a  new  purpose  to  my  ministry." 

The  second  and  third  lectures  were  delivered  on  Satur 
day  and  Monday  evenings,  October  16  and  18,  1830,  and 
on  the  28th  Mr.  Garrison  repeated  the  first  lecture  in 
Athenaeum  Hall,  on  Pearl  Street,  which  Mr.  Sewall  and 
Mr.  May  had  engaged  for  him,  doubtless  at  their  own 
expense.  A  few  colored  persons  who  attended  it  sat 
apart  in  one  corner,  in  accordance  with  their  habit  in 
those  days,  feeling  that  even  at  such  a  meeting  their 
presence  might  be  unwelcome  and  distasteful  to  the 
white  auditors. 

Dr.  Beecher,  as  has  been  mentioned,  was  present  at 
the  first  lecture,  but  no  word  of  sympathy  or  approval 
came  from  him.  He  was  the  man  to  whom  Mr.  Garrison 
had  first  turned  with  confidence  for  help  in  this  new 
crusade  against  sin  and  iniquity,  but  the  Doctor  was  in 
different  to  his  appeal,  and  excused  himself  on  the  ground 
that  he  had  too  many  irons  in  the  fire  already.  "  Then,"  Johnsons 
said  Garrison,  solemnly,  "  you  had  better  let  all  your 
irons  burn  than  neglect  your  duty  to  the  slave."  The 
demand  for  immediate  and  unconditional  emancipation 
was  alarming  to  the  Doctor,  however.  "  Your  zeal,"  he 
said  to  Garrison,  "  is  commendable,  but  you  are  mis 
guided.  If  you  will  give  up  your  fanatical  notions  and 
be  guided  by  us  (the  clergy),  we  will  make  you  the 
Wilberforce  of  America." 

Of  a  very  different  mould  from  Dr.  Beecher  was  the 
young  Unitarian  minister  who  now  allied  himself  with 
Mr.  Garrison.  One  of  the  sweetest  and  gentlest  of  men, 


and  his 
Times, 
p.  44. 


216 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARKISON. 


[JET.  25. 


CHAP.  VTI. 

1830. 


May's  Rec 
ollections, 

pp.  20-22. 


May's  Rec 
ollections, 

P.  22. 


disliking  controversy  with  all  his  soul,  he  did  not  for  a 
moment  shrink  from  the  path  of  trial  which  now  opened 
before  him.  On  the  Sunday  following  the  delivery  of 
Mr.  Garrison's  lectures,  Mr.  May  occupied  the  pulpit  of 
Rev.  Mr.  Young  at  Church  Green,  in  Summer  Street. 
"  Of  course,"  he  said,  "  I  could  not  again  speak  to  a  con 
gregation,  as  a  Christian  minister,  and  be  silent  respect 
ing  the  great  iniquity  of  our  nation.  The  only  sermon  I 
had  brought  from  my  home  in  Connecticut  that  could  be 
made  to  bear  on  the  subject,  was  one  on  Prejudice  —  the 
sermon  about  to  be  published  as  one  of  the  Tracts  of  the 
American  Unitarian  Association.  So  I  touched  it  up  as 
well  as  I  could,  interlining  here  and  there  words  and 
sentences  which  pointed  in  the  new  direction  to  which 
my  thoughts  and  feelings  so  strongly  tended,  and  writing 
at  its  close  what  used  to  be  called  an  improvement"  This 
was  a  fervid  appeal  in  behalf  of  the  two  millions  of 
his  fellow-beings  in  bondage.  His  concluding  declaration, 
that  the  iniquity  must  be  put  an  end  to,  even  if  the  very 
foundations  of  the  Republic  itself  were  thereby  broken  up, 
created  much  excitement  in  the  congregation.  When  he 
rose  to  pronounce  the  benediction,  Mr.  May  said : 

"  Every  one  present  must  be  conscious  that  the  closing  re 
marks  of  my  sermon  have  caused  an  unusual  emotion  through 
out  the  church.  I  am  glad.  Would  to  God  that  a  deeper 
emotion  could  be  sent  throughout  our  land,  until  all  the  people 
thereof  shall  be  roused  from  their  wicked  insensibility  to  the 
most  tremendous  sin  of  which  any  nation  was  ever  guilty,  and 
be  impelled  to  do  that  righteousness  which  alone  can  avert  the 
just  displeasure  of  God.  I  have  been  prompted  to  speak  thus 
by  the  words  I  have  heard  during  the  past  week  from  a  young 
man  hitherto  unknown,  but  who  is,  I  believe,  called  of  God  to 
do  a  greater  work  for  the  good  of  our  country  than  has  been 
done  by  any  one  since  the  Revolution.  I  mean  William  Lloyd 
Garrison.  He  is  going  to  repeat  his  lectures  the  coming  week. 
I  advise,  I  exhort,  I  entreat  —  would  that  I  could  compel !  — 
you  to  go  and  hear  him." 

This  fearless  profession  brought  the  immediate  re 
proof  and  condemnation  of  Mr.  Young,  and  the  reproba- 


^T.  25.]  BALTIMOKE   JAIL.  217 

tion  of  most  of  his  auditors,  upon  Mr.  May ;    and  his   CHAP.  vn. 
father  was  beset  next  day  by  friends  and  business  ac-        jsjo. 
quaintances  who   begged  him  to   stop  his  son  in  this 
"  mad  career."     The  young  man  was  immovable,  how 
ever,  and  neither  halted  nor  retreated  in  his  course  save  on 
one  point.     When  he  handed  his  sermon  to  Rev.  Henry 
Ware,  Jr.,  then   purveyor  of  the  American  Unitarian 
Association,  for  publication,  the  latter  insisted  that  the 
interlineations  and  additions  respecting  slavery  should 
be  omitted,  and  Mr.  May  consented,  to  his  lasting  regret. 
"  Unconsciously  to  ourselves,"  he  said,  "  the  hand  of  the    May's  Rec- 
slaveholding  power  lay  heavily  upon  the  mind  and  heart     %.  24.  *' 
of    the   people   in   our   Northern   as   well   as   Southern 
States.'7     This  fact  was  becoming  more   and  more  im 
pressed  on  Mr.  Garrison,  and  when  he  learned,  during 
this  month  of  October,  that  Lundy  had  removed  the 
Genius  to  Washington,  he  abandoned  his   intention  of 
publishing  the  Liberator  at   the   national   capital,   and 
resolved  to  establish  it  in  Boston. 

It  is  difficult  to  overrate  the  value  of  Mr.  May's  and 
Mr.  Sewall's  friendship  to  him  at  that  period.  The 
former's  hearty  and  enthusiastic  response  to  his  appeal 
at  Julien  Hall  had  been  as  unexpected  and  delightful  as 
his  own  self-consecration  to  the  cause  had  been  to  Lundy, 
two  years  previous;  while  Mr.  SewalPs  excellent  judg 
ment  and  advice  were  of  frequent  service  to  him  when 
launching  his  paper  and  movement  in  Boston.  In  one 
respect  Mr.  G-arrison  declined  to  follow  his  suggestions. 
Desirous  of  conciliafing  and  winning  as  large  a  number 
of  the  community  as  possible,  and  fearful  that  the  name 
Liberator  would  alarm  and  repel  them,  Mr.  Sewall  sug 
gested  several  of  a  milder  type,  of  which  one  was  the 
Safety  Lamp.  On  this  point,  however,  the  editor  was 
tenacious  and  adhered  to  his  self-explanatory  title.  But, 
as  through  all  their  subsequent  long  association  with  one 
another,  difference  of  judgment  on  subordinate  questions 
failed  to  weaken  or  impair  in  the  slightest  degree  the 
friendship  begun  at  JuKen  Hall. 


218  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAKKISON.  [2Ex.  25. 

CHAP.  vii.  And  now  it  remained  for  Mr.  Garrison  to  establish,  at 
X8^o.  the  beginning  of  the  new  year,  the  paper  which  he  had 
publicly  announced.  He  had  neither  types,  press,  nor 
office,  nor  had  he  any  money,  and  he  had  secured  no  sub 
scribers  beyond  the  few  personal  friends  whom  he  could 
count  on  his  fingers.  It  was  clearly  impossible  for  him  to 
edit,  print  and  publish  the  paper  alone  and  unaided,  and 
he  could  not  afford  to  hire  an  assistant.  At  this  juncture 
his  friend  Isaac  Knapp,  as  poor  and  destitute  as  himself, 
but  like  him  a  practical  printer,  agreed  to  go  into  part 
nership  with  him  and  share  the  toils  and  privations  of 
his  seemingly  desperate  enterprise ;  and  they  proceeded 
to  devise  ways  and  means  by  which  the  paper  could  be 
issued.  Even  if  they  should  succeed  in  publishing  the 
first  number,  it  was  a  problem  how  they  could  afford  to 
bring  out  a  second.  If  a  desire  for  glory  or  reputation 
had  been  their  controlling  motive,  any  other  method  of 
obtaining  it  would  have  seemed  more  promising  than 
the  course  they  had  chosen  ;  but  Mr.  Garrison,  in  a  sonnet 
Oct.  12,  which  appeared  in  the  same  number  of  the  Courier  in 
which  he  advertised  for  a  hall,  had  already  avowed  his 
indifference  to 

Writingsof  EAKTHLY     FAME. 

How  fall  Fame's  pillars  at  the  touch  of  Time  ! 

How  fade,  like  flowers,  the  memories  of  the  dead ! 
How  vast  the  grave  that  swallows  up  a  clime ! 

How  dim  the  light  by  ancient  glory  shed ! 
One  generation's  clay  enwraps  the  next, 

And  dead  men  are  the  aliment  of  earth ; 
"  Passing  away  !  "  is  Nature's  funeral  text, 

Uttered  coeval  with  Creation's  birth. 
I  mourn  not,  care  not,  if  my  humble  name, 

With  my  frail  body,  perish  in  the  tomb  ; 
It  courts  a  heavenly,  not  an  earthly  fame, 

That  through  eternity  shall  brightly  bloom ; 
Write  it  within  thy  Book  of  Life,  0  Lord, 
And,  in  "the  last  great  day,"  a  golden  crown  award! 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
"THE  LIBERATOR."— 1831. 

PUNCTUALLY  on  Saturday,  January  1,  1831,  the  first  CHAP.VIII. 
number  of  the  weekly  Liberator  appeared,  bearing  ^, 
on  its  front  a  plain  black-letter  heading,  the  names  of 
William  Lloyd  Garrison  and  Isaac  Knapp  as  publishers, 
of  Mr.  Garrison  as  editor,  of  Stephen  Foster  as  printer, 
and  the  motto:  Our  Country  is  the  World — Our  Coun 
trymen  are  Mankind. 1  It  was  a  modest  folio,  of  which 
the  printed  page  of  four  columns  measured  fourteen 
inches  by  nine  and  a  quarter,  and  the  running  titles  of  the 
second,  third,  and  fourth  pages  were  respectively  "  The 
Liberator,"  "  Journal  of  the  Times/7  and  "  Literary,  Mis 
cellaneous,  and  Moral,"  making  so  many  departments  of 
the  paper.  As  a  mother  recalls  a  lost  darling  by  giving 
its  name  to  a  later  born,  so,  apparently,  Mr.  Garrison 
commemorated  his  Journal  of  the  Times  in  the  title  which 
covered  the  news  of  the  day.  Once  more  his  own  master, 
alone  responsible  for  his  utterances,  there  was  something 
pleasant  in  this  suggestion  of  an  unbroken  continuity  of 
editorial  independence.  Typographically,  the  number 

iThis  sentiment,  which  was  fully  foreshadowed  in  the  Park-Street 
Church  address,  was,  as  we  have  already  seen  (ante,  p.  202),  wrought  out 
in  the  prospectus  of  the  Public  Liberator.  As  will  appear  later  on,  Mr. 
Garrison  claimed  originality  for  the  formula.  There  is  no  evidence,  and 
small  probability,  that  at  this  time  he  had  read  Thomas  Paine's  '  Rights  of 
Man,'  in  the  fifth  chapter  of  which  occurs  this  passage,  so  eminently  appli 
cable  to  the  editor  of  the  Liberator :  "In  stating  these  matters,  I  speak  an 
open  and  disinterested  language,  dictated  by  no  passion  but  that  of  human 
ity.  .  .  .  Independence  is  my  happiness,  and  I  view  things  as  they  are, 
without  regard  to  place  or  person  ;  my  country  is  the  world,  and  my  religion 
is  to  do  good." 

219 


220 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKEISON. 


[JET.  26. 


CHAP.  VIII. 
1831. 


MS.  Mar.  i. 

1874, 

W.  L.  G.  to 
O.  Johnson. 


Lib.  1 : 179. 


Ante,  p.  80. 


Garrison 

and  his 

Times,  p. 

Si- 


was  a  model  of  neatness  and  accuracy,  and  worthily  in 
troduced  a  series  possessing  to  the  end  the  same  charac 
teristics.  1 

On  their  return  from  Baltimore,  the  two  friends,  Garri 
son  and  Knapp,  had  taken  lodgings  on  Federal  Street, 
with  the  Rev.  William  Collier,  and  there  made  the  ac 
quaintance  of  Stephen  Foster,  an  intelligent  and  warm 
hearted  youth  of  their  own  age,  from  Portland,  then 
foreman  of  the  printing-office  of  the  Christian  Examiner 
at  Merchants'  Hall.  A  zeal  for  the  cause,  added  to  per 
sonal  friendship,  induced  Foster  to  allow  them  the  use  of 
his  type  for  their  new  paper  in  return  for  their  services 
by  day  as  journeymen  at  the  case.  For  three  numbers 
this  arrangement  continued,  when  a  change  became  neces 
sary,  and  Foster's  name  was  withdrawn  from  the  paper ; 
but  his  good-will  and  anti-slavery  endeavor  knew  no 
abatement  till  his  untimely  death  before  the  close  of  the 
year.  A  lot  of  well-worn,  second-hand  type  was  rescued 
from  the  foundry,  and  with  this  the  fourth  number  was 
put  to  press. 

The  publication  office,  originally  at  No.  6  Merchants7 
Hall,2  was  shifted  to  No.  8,  No.  9,  and  No.  11  with  each 
succeeding  issue  ;  but  at  No.  11,  in  the  third  story,  "  un 
der  the  eaves" — the  old  home  of  the  National  Philanthro 
pist — with  a  temporary  flitting  to  No.  10,  it  rested  for 
some  years.  "  The  dingy  walls ;  the  small  windows,  be 
spattered  with  printer's  ink ;  the  press 3  standing  in  one 
corner ;  the  composing-stands  opposite  ;  the  long  editorial 
and  mailing  table,  covered  with  newspapers ;  the  bed  of 
the  editor  and  publisher  on  the  floor  —  all  these/7  says 
Oliver  Johnson,  "make  a  picture  never  to  be  forgotten."4 

1  The  first  and  several  succeeding  numbers  were  "  dry-pressed." 

2  This  building,  like  so  many  other  historic  landmarks,  was  consumed  in 
the  great  fire  of  November  9  and  10,  1872. 

3  In  the  interval  of  acquiring  a  hand-press  of  their  own   (procured, 
together  with  the  second-hand  type  referred  to,  on  credit,  of  Greele  & 
Willis),  the  partners  had  used  one  belonging  in  the  office  of  the  Boston 
Daily  Advocate,  by  permission  of  the  foreman,  James  B.  Yerrinton. 

4  "  It  was  a  pretty  large  room,"  says  Josiah  Copley  (in  the  Pittsburgh 
United  Presbyterian  of  June  5,  1879),  who  visited  it  in  the  winter  of  1832-33. 


^ET.  26.]  "  THE   LIBERATOR."  221 

Here  were  workshop  and  home  in  one.1  "The  Pub 
lishers  of  the  Liberator,"  as  they  announced  in  their  first  Lib.  1:3. 
issue,  a  have  formed  their  copartnership  with  a  determina 
tion  to  print  the  paper  as  long  as  they  can  subsist  upon 
bread  and  water,  or  their  hands  obtain  employment. 
The  friends  of  the  cause  may  therefore  take  courage ; 
its  enemies  —  may  surrender  at  discretion."  The  part-  MS.  Afar,  i, 
ners  lived,  in  fact,  {l  chiefly  upon  bread  and  milk,  a  few 
cakes,  and  a  little  fruit,  obtained  from  a  baker's  shop 
opposite  and  a  petty  cake  and  fruit  shop  in  the  base 
ment,"  and  "  were  sometimes  on  '  short  commons/  even 
at  that."2  But  they  had  meat  to  eat  the  world  knew  not 
of.  "  Many  a  time  in  visiting  their  office,'7  Mr.  Johnson 
again  bears  witness,  "  did  I  find  them  partaking  of  their 
humble  repast,  which  they  seasoned  with  laughter,  song 
and  cheerful  talk.  A  friendly  cat  cheered  their  loneliness 
and  protected  them  from  the  depredations  of  mice.  Mr.  c/.  ante,  p. 
Garrison  was  fond  of  his  feline  companion,  and  I  re 
member  seeing  her  more  than  once  mounted  upon  his 
writing-table,  and  caressing  his  bald  forehead  in  a  most 
affectionate  way,  while  he  was  spinning  editorial  yarn." 
How  little  time  there  was  for  such  spinning,  and  why 
in  this  first  volume  editorial  promises  went  so  often 
unfulfilled,  appears  in  Mr.  Garrison's  letter  to  his  "  be 
loved  friend,"  Samuel  J.  May,  under  date  of  February 
14,  1831 : 

"but  there  was  nothing  in  it  to  relieve  its  dreariness  but  two  or  three  very 
common  chairs  and  a  pine  desk  in  the  far  corner,  at  which  a  pale,  delicate, 
and  apparently  over-tasked  gentleman  was  sitting.  ...  I  never  was 
more  astonished.  All  my  preconceptions  were  at  fault.  My  ideal  of  the 
man  was  that  of  a  stout,  rugged,  dark-visaged  desperado — something  like 
we  picture  a  pirate.  He  was  a  quiet,  gentle,  and  I  might  say  handsome 
man — a  gentleman  indeed,  in  every  sense  of  the  word." 

1  Another  witness,  the  Rev.  James  C.  White,  of  Cincinnati,  under  date  of 
Nov.  4,  1879,  writes :    "I  was  often  at  the  office  of  the  Liberator.    ...     I 
knew  of  his  [Mr.  Garrison's]  self-denials.     I  knew  he  slept  in  the  office  with 
a  table  for  abed,  a  book  for  a  pillow,  and  a  self -prepared  scanty  meal  for 
his  rations  in  the  office,  while  he  set  up  his  articles  in  the  Liberator  with  his 
own  hand,  and  without  previous  committal  to  paper." 

2  "  I  believe  we  thus  lived  for  at  least  a  year  and  a  half"  (MS.  Mar.  1, 
1874,  W.  L.  G.  to  O.  Johnson). 


222  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON.  [^T.  26. 


MS.  "  If  the  most  unremitted  labor  had  not  occupied  my  time 

since  your  departure,  I  should  feel  very  culpable  for  my  long 
silence.  Without  means,  and  determined  to  ask  the  assistance 
of  no  individual,  —  and,  indeed,  not  knowing  where  to  look  for  it, 
so  unpopular  was  the  cause,  —  you  may  suppose  that  I  have  been 
obliged  to  make  severe  personal  exertions  for  the  establishment 
of  the  Liberator.  I  am  ashamed  of  the  meagre  aspect  which  the 
paper  presents  in  its  editorial  department,  because  the  public 
imagine  that  I  have  six  days  each  week  to  cater  for  it,  when,  in 
fact,  scarcely  six  hours  are  allotted  to  me,  and  these  at  midnight. 
My  worthy  partner  and  I  complete  the  mechanical  part  ;  that 
is  to  say,  we  compose  and  distribute,  on  every  number,  one 
hundred  thousand  types,  besides  performing  the  press-work, 
mailing  the  papers  to  subscribers,1  &c.,  &c.  In  addition  to 
this,  a  variety  of  letters,  relative  to  the  paper,  are  constantly 
accumulating,  which  require  prompt  answers.  We  have  just 
taken  a  colored  apprentice,2  however,  who  will  shortly  be  able 
to  alleviate  our  toil. 

"  I  cannot  give  you  a  better  apprehension  of  the  arduousness 

of  my  labors  than  by  stating  that  it  is  more  than  six  weeks 

since  I  visited  Mr.  Coffin3  —  perhaps  more  properly  the  Misses 

.  Coffin  j  for,  certainly,  there  is  no  place  in  Boston  I  am  disposed 

to  visit  so  often  as  in  Atkinson  Street." 

7^.5,1831,  Already,  in  replying  publicly  to  a  correspondent,  he 
had  said  :  "  It  cannot  be  supposed  that  we,  who  perform 
every  day  but  the  Sabbath  fourteen  hours  of  manual 
labor  on  our  paper,  independent  of  mental  toil,  .  .  .  are 
inimical  to  the  prosperity  or  improvement  of  the  work- 

1  Many  numbers  in  the  bound  Volume  I.  now  (1885)  in  possession  of 
Mr.  Oliver  Johnson  bear  in  Mr.  Garrison's  own  hand  the  name  of    the 
Protestant,  an  exchange  newspaper  edited  by  the  Rev.  George  Bourne  in 
New  York  City. 

2  Thomas  Paul,  son  of  the  highly  respected  pastor  (of  the  same  name)  of 
the  African  Baptist  Church  in  Belknap  Street,  who  died  in  April,   1831 
(Lib.  1:63).     From  the  printing-office  the  lad  went  to  the  Noyes  Academy 
in  Canaan,  N.  H.   (Lib.   5:71),  and  thence  to  Dartmouth  College  (Lib. 
7:203),  where  he  graduated  in  1841  (Lib.  11:151).     Afterwards  he  became 
a  teacher. 

3  Peter  Coffin,  father-in-law  of  Mr.  May.     Atkinson  Street  was  that  part 
of  Congress  now  lying  between  Milk  and  Purchase  Streets  ;   the  family 
lived,  therefore,  at  no  great  distance  from  the  Liberator  office.     They  were 
remotely  related  to  Joshua  Coffin,  the  historian  of  Newbury,  Mass.,  of  whom 
more  anon. 


.  26.] 


THE   LIBERATOR." 


223 


ing  fraternity."     And  towards  the  close  of  the  year  he 
writes  thus  to  a  friend  in  Providence : 

"  I  am  sorry  that  I  can  give  you  in  return  only  a  few  lines 
which  are  destitute  of  thought  and  distinguished  for  bad  pen 
manship,  (for  I  write  in  haste,)  — but  so  it  is.  A  week's  hard 
labor  has  just  closed,  and  my  mind  is  too  much  exhausted  for 
mental  effort,  and  my  body  too  jaded  to  be  serviceable.  My 
correspondence  is  necessarily  extensive  and  onerous  ;  pen,  ink 
and  paper  throw  me  into  a  kind  of  intellectual  hydrophobia, 
and  so  I  avoid  them  as  much  as  possible." 

But  we  have  not  done  with  the  mechanical  obstacles 
to  the  birth  of  the  new  journal.  The  ream  or  two  of 
paper  needed  to  produce  a  specimen  number  was  sought 
to  be  obtained  on  credit  of  Deacon  Moses  Grant,  of  the 
firm  of  Grant  &  Daiiiell,  an  acquaintance  in  the  tempe 
rance  cause,  who  had  entire  respect  for  the  partners  ajid 
had  previously  been  consulted  by  them  about  starting 
the  Liberator.  His  refusal  to  let  them  have  the  modest 
amount  asked  for  was,  therefore,  not  from  distrust  of 
ultimate  repayment,  but  from  scruples  about  countenan 
cing  a  paper  having  the  anti-slavery  character  proposed. 
At  last,  a  house  to  which  the  young  men  were  both 
strangers  was  found  to  take  the  business  risk,  and  the 
first  number  was  launched.  Simultaneously  was  re 
ceived  from  James  Forten,  u  the  greatly  esteemed  and 
venerated  sailmaker  of  Philadelphia,"  the  sum  of  fifty- 
four  dollars  in  advance  for  twenty-seven  subscribers  — 
aid  so  timely  as  (like  that  shortly  before  received  from 
Ebenezer  Dole)  perhaps  to  be  called  Providential,  seeing 
that  Mr.  Garrison's  orthodoxy  was  at  that  date  irre 
proachable.  Still,  neither  a  slender  credit  nor  fifty -four 
dollars  in  hand  could  go  a  great  way  towards  supporting 
a  paper  which  began  without  a  subscriber.  But  for  the 
"  cheering  countenance  and  pecuniary  assistance  early 
extended  to  the  Liberator  "  by  Mr.  Sewall 1  and  Mr.  Ellis 

l  "  Had  it  not  been  for  Samuel  E.  Sewall,  I  never  should  have  been  able  to 
continue  the  paper.  He  was  the  man  who  gave  money  again  and  again, 
never  expecting  and  never  asking  for  the  return  of  it"  (Stenographic 
report  of  Mr.  Garrison's  speech  at  the  20th  anniversary  of  the  Liberator, 
omitted  in  print ;  see  Lib.  21 : 18). 


Nov.  12, 
1831. 


MS.  Mar.  i, 
1874, 

W.  L.  G.  to 

O.  Johnson  ; 

Mays  Rec 
ollections, 

p.  30 ;  Lib. 
21 : 18,  19. 


MS.Dec.yi, 

1830,          <- 
to  W.  L.  G. 


Ante,  p.  193. 


224  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GARRISON.  [^ET.  26. 


CHAP.  vin.   Gray  Loring  in  particular,  it  "must  have   again  and 
1831.        again  been  suspended,  and  ultimately  discontinued." 

The  mission  of  the  Liberator  was  thus  set  forth  on  the 
first  page  in  a  salutatory  address  : 


TO    THE   PUBLIC. 

In  the  month  of  August,  I  issued  proposals  for  publishing 
"  THE  LIBERATOR  "  in  Washington  City ;  but  the  enterprise, 
though  hailed  in  different  sections  of  the  country,  was  palsied 
by  public  indifference.  Since  that  time,  the  removal  of  the 
Genius  of  Universal  Emancipation  to  the  Seat  of  Government 
has  rendered  less  imperious  the  establishment  of  a  similar 
periodical  in  that  quarter. 

During  my  recent  tour  for  the  purpose  of  exciting  the  minds 
of  the  people  by  a  series  of  discourses  on  the  subject  of  slavery, 
every  place  that  I  visited  gave  fresh  evidence  of  the  fact,  that 
a  greater  revolution  in  public  sentiment  was  to  be  effected  in 
the  free  States  —  and  particularly  in  New-England  —  than  at  the 
South.  I  found  contempt  more  bitter,  opposition  more  active, 
detraction  more  relentless,  prejudice  more  stubborn,  and 
apathy  more  frozen,  than  among  slave-owners  themselves. 
Of  course,  there  were  individual  exceptions  to  the  contrary. 
This  state  of  things  afflicted,  but  did  not  dishearten  me.  I 
determined,  at  every  hazard,  to  lift  up  the  standard  of  emanci 
pation  in  the  eyes  of  the  nation,  within  sight  of  Bunker  Hill  and 
in  the  birthplace  of  liberty.  That  standard  is  now  unfurled ;  and 
long  may  it  float,  unhurt  by  the  spoliations  of  time  or  the  mis 
siles  of  a  desperate  foe  —  yea,  till  every  chain  be  broken,  and 
every  bondman  set  free  !  Let  Southern  oppressors  tremble  — 
let  their  secret  abettors  tremble  —  let  their  Northern  apologists 
tremble  —  let  all  the  enemies  of  the  persecuted  blacks  tremble. 

I  deem  the  publication  of  my  original  Prospectus  unneces 
sary,  as  it  has  obtained  a  wide  circulation.  The  principles 
therein  inculcated  will  be  steadily  pursued  in  this  paper,  ex 
cepting  that  I  shall  not  array  myself  as  the  political  partisan  of 
any  man.  In  defending  the  great  cause  of  human  rights,  I 
wish  to  derive  the  assistance  of  all  religions  and  of  all  parties. 

Assenting  to  the  "  self-evident  truth "  maintained  in  the 
American  Declaration  of  Independence,  li  that  all  men  are 
created  equal,  and  endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain 
inalienable  rights  —  among  which  are  life,  liberty  and  the  pur- 


^ET.  26.]  "  THE  LIBEKATOK."  225 

suit  of  happiness,"  I  shall  strenuously  contend  for  the  imme-  CHAP.VIII. 
diate  enfranchisement  of  our  slave  population.  In  Park- Street  x~ 
Church,  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  1829,  in  an  address  on  slavery, 
I  unreflectingly  assented  to  the  popular  but  pernicious  doctrine 
of  gradual  abolition.  I  seize  this  opportunity  to  make  a  full 
and  unequivocal  recantation,  and  thus  publicly  to  ask  pardon 
of  my  God,  of  my  country,  and  of  my  brethren  the  poor  slaves, 
for  having  uttered  a  sentiment  so  full  of  timidity,  injustice,  and 
absurdity.  A  similar  recantation,  from  my  pen,  was  published 
in  the  Genius  of  Universal  Emancipation  at  Baltimore,  in  Sep 
tember,  1829.  My  conscience  is  now  satisfied. 

I  am  aware  that  many  object  to  the  severity  of  my  language ; 
but  is  there  not  cause  for  severity  ?  I  will  be  as  harsh  as  truth, 
and  as  uncompromising  as  justice.  On  this  subject,  I  do  not 
wish  to  think,  or  speak,  or  write,  with  moderation.  No  !  no ! 
Tell  a  man  whose  house  is  on  fire  to  give  a  moderate  alarm ; 
tell  him  to  moderately  rescue  his  wife  from  the  hands  of  the 
ravisher ;  tell  the  mother  to  gradually  extricate  her  babe  from 
the  fire  into  which  it  has  fallen ;  —  but  urge  me  not  to  use 
moderation  in  a  cause  like  the  present.  I  am  in  earnest  —  I 
will  not  equivocate  —  I  will  not  excuse  —  I  will  not  retreat  a 
single  inch— AND  I  WILL  BE  HEARD.  The  apathy  of  the  people 
is  enough  to  make  every  statue  leap  from  its  pedestal,  and  to 
hasten  the  resurrection  of  the  dead. 

It  is  pretended,  that  I  am  retarding  the  cause  of  emancipa 
tion  by  the  coarseness  of  my  invective  and  the  precipitancy 
of  my  measures.  The  charge  is  not  true.  On  this  question 
my  influence,— humble  as  it  is,— is  felt  at  this  moment  to  a 
considerable  extent,  and  shall  be  felt  in  coming  years — not 
perniciously,  but  beneficially  —  not  as  a  curse,  but  as  a  bless 
ing  ;  and  posterity  will  bear  testimony  that  I  was  right. 
I  desire  to  thank  God,  that  he  enables  me  to  disregard  "  the 
fear  of  man  which  bringeth  a  snare,"  and  to  speak  his  truth 
in  its  simplicity  and  power.  And  here  I  close  with  this  fresh 
dedication : 

"  Oppression!  I  have  seen  thee,  face  to  face, 
And  met  thy  cruel  eye  and  cloudy  brow; 
But  thy  soul- withering  glance  I  fear  not  now — 
For  dread  to  prouder  feelings  doth  give  place 
Of  deep  abhorrence!    Scorning  the  disgrace 
Of  slavish  knees  that  at  thy  footstool  bow, 
I  also  kneel — but  with  far  other  vow 
Do  hail  thee  and  thy  herd  of  hirelings  base :  — 
I  swear,  while  life-blood  warms  my  throbbing  veins, 

VOL.  I.— 15 


226  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAREISON.  [Mi.  26. 

CHAP.  VII I.  Still  to  oppose  and  thwart,  with  heart  and  hand, 

Thy  brutalising  sway — till  Afric's  chains 

I^3I-  Are  burst,  and  Freedom  rules  the  rescued  land, — 

Trampling  Oppression  and  his  iron  rod: 
Such  is  the  vow  I  take — so  HELP  ME  GOD!"! 

WILLIAM  LLOYD  GARRISON. 
BOSTON,  January  1,  1831. 

From  this  manifesto,  in  which,  as  was  Mr.  Garrison's 
wont,,  every  word  was  weighed  with  a  more  than  rhetori 
cal  exactitude,  one  misses  any  allusion  to  the  American 
Colonization  Society,  unless  the  passage  on  gradual 
abolition,  with  its  reference  to  the  Park-Street  Church 
discourse,  be  such ;  nor  does  the  Society's  name  occur  in 
the  first  number.  In  the  very  next,  however,  in  opposi- 
Lib.  i :  7.  tion  to  Lundy,  the  editor  reiterates  his  belief  that  "  the 
American  Colonization  Society  is  wrong  in  principle  and 
impotent  in  design,"  and  promises  to  "  thoroughly  sift  its 
pretensions  in  subsequent  numbers  of  the  Liberator." 
No  bodily  nor  mental  fatigue  prevented  this  pledge  from 
being  amply  redeemed. 

The  resolution  to  guard  his  agitation  from  political 
and  sectarian  entanglements  was  frankly  based  on  prac- 
Lib.  i :  35.  tical  considerations  of  expediency.  "  We  are  out  of  the 
arena  of  politics,  and  we  mean  to  keep  out  of  it,"  he  says 
subsequently.  And  again,  announcing  his  intention  to 
address  by  request  the  Society  of  Free  Enquirers,  at  the 
Lower  Julien  Hall,  on  the  cruelties  and  impieties  of 
slavery  and  the  anti-republican  and  anti-Christian  ten 
dency  of  the  Colonization  Society : 

Lib.  i :  39.  "It  is  immaterial  to  me  what  party  or  sect  I  am  invited  to 
.  address  on  this  subject.  Universal  emancipation  from  despot 
ism  is,  and  ought  to  be,  common  ground.  He  is  neither  a  free 
man,  nor  a  friend  to  freedom,  who  makes  this  a  sectarian  or 
political  cause.  If  the  religious  portion  of  the  community  are 
indifferent  to  the  cries  of  suffering  humanity,  it  is  no  reason 

i  The  author  of  this  sonnet  was  Thomas  Pringle,  the  Scottish  poet,  1789- 
1834,  one  of  the  founders  of  Slackwood's  Magazine,  and  Secretary  of  the 
London  Society  for  the  Abolition  of  Slavery  throughout  the  British 
Dominions  (Lib.  1:43;  6:188;  May's  '  Recollections,' p.  112). 


MT.  26.]  "  THE   LIBEKATOR."  227 

why  I  should  reject  the  co-operation  of  those  who  are  more   CHAP.VIII. 
deeply  interested,  though  they  make  no  pretension  to  evan-          ~ 
gelical  piety." 

Those  who  have  sought  to  belittle  Mr.  Garrison's  part 
in  the  abolition  of  slavery,  have  found  nothing  novel  in 
the  "  severity  of  his  language."  But  whether  a  real,  and 
whether  a  good  or  a  bad  title  to  distinction  from  his  pre 
decessors,  for  this  he  had  gone  to  jail,  and  for  it  he  was 
now  obliged  to  listen  to  the  remonstrances  of  those  who  May's  Rec- 
most  nearly  sympathized  with  his  objects,  and  whose  %.  37.  ' 
profound  faith  in  the  purity  of  his  motives  furnished 
him  the  means  to  shock  them  weekly  in  print.  Towards 
them  he  could  be  patient,  but  not  so  to  an  anonymous 
correspondent  who  had  been  pestering  him  with  some 
crude  advice : 

"  Everybody  is  opposed  to  slavery.  ...  0  yes  !  there  is  Lib.  1 149. 
an  abundance  of  philanthropy  among  us :  the  difficulty  is,  we 
have  too  much,  instead  of  too  little  of  it.  ...  There  is  nobody 
to  reform  (except  the  reformers)  — here  lies  the  difficulty.  Fur 
ther  :  I  conceive  it  no  part  of  my  duty,  as  editor,  to  prove  that 
the  holding  of  slaves  is  criminal.  I  take  it  for  granted  that 
slavery  is  a  crime  —  a  damning  crime :  therefore  my  efforts  shall 
be  directed  to  the  exposure  of  those  who  practise  it. 

"  The  public  shall  not  be  imposed  upon,  and  men  and  things 
shall  be  called  by  their  right  names.  I  retract  nothing — I  blot 
out  nothing.  My  language  is  exactly  such  as  suits  me  j  it  will 
displease  many,  I  know  —  to  displease  them  is  my  intention. 

"  Here  I  must  advertise,  that  further  advice  will  be  con 
sidered  intrusive.  I  do  not  want  it.  I  want  more  leisure  from 
manual  labor,  in  order  to  do  justice  to  the  cause  —  I  want  a 
larger  periodical  that  will  enable  me  and  my  correspondents  to 
appear  before  the  public  without  crowding  each  other." 

There  is  an  apparent  inconsistency  between  the  terms  in 
which  gradual  abolition  is  condemned  in  the  Salutatory, 
and  the  phraseology  of  a  petition  to  Congress  entreating 
emancipation  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  printed  beside 
the  former  on  the  first  page  of  the  Liberator.  This 
petition, — which  is  introduced  by  editorial  surprise  at 
"many  of  the  professed  enemies  of  slavery  .  .  . 


228  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAKRISON.  [^T.  26. 

CHAP. vni.  heaping  all  their  reproaches  upon  the  South,  and  assert- 
1831.  ing  that  the  crime  of  oppression  is  not  national,"  whereas 
the  power  of  Congress  over  the  District  is  indisputable, 
— this  petition  prays  that  "  Congress  will,  without  delay, 
take  such  measures  for  the  immediate  or  gradual  abo 
lition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  for 
preventing  the  bringing  of  slaves  into  that  District  for 
purposes  of  traffic,  in  such  mode  as  may  be  advisable," 
etc.  This  is  an  advance  on  the  petition  which  Mr.  Gar- 

Ante,p.  108.  rison  had  circulated  in  Vermont,  in  so  far  as  it  assumes 
the  practicability  of  immediate  emancipation ;  and  it  may 
be  said  for  the  author  of  it  (not  the  editor  himself)  that 
the  appeal  is  not  here  to  individuals  guilty  of  the  sin  of 
slaveholding,  but  to  a  legislature  which  must  consider 
ways  and  means,  and  which  is  accordingly  also  asked  to 
make  "  suitable  provision  .  .  .  for  the  education  of 
all  free  blacks  and  colored  children  in  the  District,  thus, 
to  preserve  them  from  continuing,  even  as  free  men,  an 
unenlightened  and  degraded  caste."1  Moreover,  as  a 
test  of  the  disposition  of  Congress  to  exercise  its  Consti 
tutional  authority  over  the  District,  a  demand  for  gradual 
abolition  was  as  good  as  for  immediate.  For  the  moment, 
the  publication  and  recommendation  of  such  a  petition, 
even  in  its  least  strenuous  aspect,  were  evidence,  in 
Southern  eyes,  of  the  business-like  character  of  Mr.  Gar 
rison's  undertaking,  and  gave  unmistakable  significance 
to  the  bold  and  defiant  language  of  his  Salutatory. 

Nor  did  turning  the  leaf  of  the  first  number  of  the 
Liberator  bring  much  comfort  to  slaveholders.  On  the 
second  page  they  might  read  the  indomitable  spirit  of 
their  adversary  in  his  preface  to  a  report  of  his  second 
Baltimore  trial — a  report  taken  from  the  Baltimore 
Gazette,  and  containing  in  full  the  original  libel.  His 
persecutors  are  challenged  to  do  their  worst:  he  can 

l"Urge  immediate  abolition  as  earnestly  as  we  may,  it  will,  alas!  be 
gradual  abolition  in  the  end.  We  have  never  said  that  slavery  would  be 
overthrown  by  a  single  blow ;  that  it  ought  to  be,  we  shall  always  contend  " 
(W.  L.  G.  in  Lib.  1:129). 


MT.  26.]  "  THE   LIBERATOR."  229 

neither  be  frightened  nor  humbled,  nor  made  to  forget  CHAP.VIII. 
that  he  is  an  American  citizen  and  a  freeman,  or,  as  a        ^^ 
being  accountable  to  God,  to  hold  his  peace  on  the  sub 
ject  of  African  oppression.     "  Is  the  inquiry  made,  how 
do  I  bear  up  under  my  adversities  1    I  answer — like  the 
oak — like  the  Alps — unshaken,  storm-proof."     To  the 
narrative   of    his  conviction    he  is   able  to   append   a 
Southern  and  a  Northern  protest  against  it ;  the  former 
from  a  convention  of  the  Manumission  Society  of  North 
Carolina,  the  latter  from  the  Massachusetts  Journal  and 
Tribune,  whose  opinion  was  reinforced  by  the  fact  that 
the  editor  and  writer  of  the  article  in  question,  David 
Lee  Child,1  was  a  lawyer.     His  own  comments  follow  in     Lib.  1:9; 
a  later  number. 

Still  a  little  space  remains  on  the  second  page,  and  this 

shall  be  filled  by  verses  signed  "  G- n,"  but  written 

who  knows  when  or  where  amid  all  the  distractions  of 
the  past  six  months  ? 

UNIVEESAL     EMANCIPATION. 

Though  distant  be  the  hour,  yet  come  it  must  — 

Oh !  hasten  it,  in  mercy,  righteous  Heaven ! 
When  Afric's  sons,  uprising  from  the  dust, 

Shall  stand  erect  —  their  galling  fetters  riven  j 

When  from  his  throne  Oppression  shall  be  driven, 
An  exiled  monster,  powerless  through  all  time ; 

When  freedom  —  glorious  freedom,  shall  be  given 
To  every  race,  complexion,  caste,  and  clime, 
And  nature's  sable  hue  shall  cease  to  be  a  crime! 

Wo  if  it  come  with  storm,  and  blood,  and  fire, 
When  midnight  darkness  veils  the  earth  and  sky ! 

Wo  to  the  innocent  babe  —  the  guilty  sire  — 
Mother  and  daughter  —  friends  of  kindred  tie ! 
Stranger  and  citizen  alike  shall  die! 

l  "My  husband  was  anti-slavery,"  wrote  Mrs.  Child  in  1867,  "and  it 
[slavery]  was  the  theme  of  many  of  our  conversations  while  Garrison  was 
in  prison  "  ('Letters  of  L.  M.  Child,'  p.  195). 


230  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKKISON.  [^T.  26. 


CHAP.  VIII.  Red-handed  Slaughter  his  revenge  shall  feed, 

I^~I  And  Havoc  yell  his  ominous  death-cry, 

And  wild  Despair  in  vain  for  mercy  plead  — 
While  Hell  itself  shall  shrink,  and  sicken  at  the  deed  ! 

Thou  who  avengest  blood  !   long-suffering  Lord  ! 

My  guilty  country  from  destruction  save  ! 
Let  Justice  sheathe  her  sharp  and  terrible  sword, 

And  Mercy  rescue,  e'en  as  from  the  grave  ! 

Oh  !  for  the  sake  of  those  who  firmly  brave 
The  lust  of  Power  —  the  tyranny  of  Law  — 

To  bring  redemption  to  the  perishing  slave  — 
Fearless,  though  few  —  Thy  presence  ne'er  withdraw, 
But  quench  the  kindling  flames  of  hot,  rebellious  war  ! 

And  ye  —  sad  victims  of  base  Avarice  ! 

Hunted  like  beasts,  and  trodden  like  the  earth  ; 
Bought  and  sold  daily,  at  a  paltry  price  — 

The  scorn  of  tyrants,  and  of  fools  the  mirth  — 

Your  souls  debased  from  their  immortal  birth! 
Bear  meekly  —  as  ye  've  borne  —  your  cruel  woes  j 

Ease  follows  pain  —  light,  darkness  —  plenty,  dearth  : 
So  time  shall  give  you  freedom  and  repose, 
And  high  exalt  your  heads  above  your  bitter  foes  ! 

Not  by  the  sword  shall  your  deliverance  be  ; 

Not  by  the  shedding  of  your  masters'  blood, 
Not  by  rebellion  —  or  foul  treachery, 

Upspringing  suddenly,  like  swelling  flood: 

Revenge  and  rapine  ne'er  did  bring  forth  good. 
GOD'S  time  is  best  !  —  nor  will  it  long  delay  : 

Even  now  your  barren  cause  begins  to  bud, 
And  glorious  shall  the  fruit  be  !  —  Watch  and  pray, 
For,  lo  !   the  kindling  dawn,  that  ushers  in  the  day  ! 

On  the  literary  quality  of  these  verses  the  Southern 
mind,  we  may  be  sure,  did  not  dwell  long.  As  confi 
dently  we  may  affirm  that  it  saw  in  them  only  a  blood 
thirsty  purpose,  and  that  when  in  September  of  this 
Lib.  i  :  143.  memorable  year  the  editor  recalled  the  second  stanza  as 
prophecy,  it  seemed  rather  to  the  panic-stricken  objects 
of  real  and  imaginary  insurrections  a  diabolic  cause  of 


^ET.  26.]  "  THE   LIBEKATOK."  231 

their  impending  destruction.     The  heat,  therefore,  with  CHAP.VIII. 
which  they  passed  from  reading  this  warning  to  the        X8^i. 
oppressor,    this    injunction    of    non-resistance    to    the 
oppressed,  this  absolutely  just  prediction  that  their  re 
demption  would  come  from  without,  was  not  likely  to 
be  allayed  by  the  editorial  notice,  on  the  third  page, 
of    an  interesting  piece   of    current  intelligence :    the 
Legislature  of  North  Carolina  was  sitting  with  closed      Cf.ante, 
doors  to  consider  a  message  from  the  Governor  about      p' ] 
4  Walker's    Appeal.'      They   had    good    reason    to    be 
alarmed,   observed  Mr.   Garrison,   "for   a   better    pro 
moter    of   insurrection  was    never    sent   forth    to    an 
oppressed  people."    As  "  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
productions  of  the  age/7  he  proposed  to  examine  it  in  a 
future  number,  together  with  the  opinions  of  the  press 
about  it;  adding,  "We  have  already  publicly  deprecated   Ante,p.i6i. 
its  spirit."    He  himself  did  not  get  beyond  a  first  and 
very  brief  article,  in  which  he   again   deprecated  the     Lib.  i :  6. 
"  spirit  and  tendency"  of  the  'Appeal/  but  declared  that 
it  was  not  for  his  guilty  countrymen  as  a  nation  "  to 
denounce   it   as   bloody   or   monstrous.     .     .     .     Every 
Fourth  of  July  celebration  must  embitter  and  inflame  the 
minds  of  the  slaves.    And  the  late  dinners,  and  illumina 
tions,  and  ovations,  and  shoutings,  at  the  South,  over  the 
downfall  of  the  French  tyrant,  Charles  the  Tenth,  furnish 
so  many  reasons  to  the  slaves  why  they  should  obtain  their 
rights  by  violence."   Subsequently,  an  able  analysis  of  the 
'  Appeal,7  with  extracts,  by  an  anonymous  contributor, 
filled  the  place  of  honor  in  several  numbers  of  the  paper,     Llb_  I8^69- 
at  no   great  interval  before  the  Nat  Turner  rising  in 
Virginia.1 

The  "  incendiary 77  character  of  the  Liberator  was  not 
fully  developed  till  its  seventeenth  number,  when  the 
plain  heading  gave  way  to  an  ornamental  one,  sur 
mounted  by  a  rude  but  effective  cut,  representing  a  slave- 

l  The  Virginia  House  of  Delegates  took  notice  of  'Walker's  Appeal '  in  a 
bill  "  To  prevent  the  circulation  of  seditious  writings"  (ante,  p.  162,  James 
Stuart's  '  Three  Years  in  America,'  and  the  monthly  Abolitionist,  p.  98). 


232  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKKISON.  [-ET.  26. 

Lib.  i :  67.  auction,  "  appropriately  located  at  the  seat  of  the  National 
Government,"  indicated  on  the  left  side  by  the  Capitol  in 
the  distance,  "  with  the  American  flag  (on  which  is  con 
spicuous  the  word  LIBERTY)  floating  on  the  breeze,"  and 
a  whipping-post  in  front  at  which  a  bound  slave  is  being 
flogged.  On  the  right  and  in  the  immediate  foreground 
is  a  group  in  which  a  single  beast  answers  to  the  sign 
"  Horse  Market,"  and  to  the  placard  on  the  auctioneer's 
pulpit,  u  Slaves,  horses  and  other  cattle  to  be  sold  at 
12  o'c.,"  while  a  sorrowing  family  of  slaves  about  to  be 
separated,  "  a  purchaser  examining  a  negro  as  a  butcher 
would  an  ox/'  and  sundry  bidders,  complete  the  picture 
— or  all  but  complete  it,  for  "down  in  the  dust  our 
Indian  Treaties  are  seen."  This  design  has  every  appear 
ance  of  having  originated  with  the  editor,  whose  sense  of 
pictorial  effect  was  ever  very  keen.1  Re-drawn  and  elab 
orated  in  after  years  to  meet  the  expansion  of  the  paper, 
it  remained  at  the  head,  as  Mr.  Garrison  remained  at  the 
helm,  until  slavery  and  the  Liberator  were  no  more.  "  I 

Lib.  i :  178.  have  heard,"  wrote  a  resident  of  Georgia,  "  many  com 
ments  upon  your  paper  by  the  slaveholders  who  have 
seen  it.  Your  engraving  in  the  title  is  galling  to  them, 
and  often  elicits  a  deep  and  bitter  curse."  They  saw  in 
it  not  what  it  was  meant  to  be,  an  appeal  to  the  North 
ern  conscience,  but  an  instigation  to  servile  insurrec- 

30  Years'  tion.  "  For  what  purpose,"  asked  Senator  Benton  in  1835 
«t»,i.  577.  o£  a  simjiar  issue  " f rom  the  abolition  mint,"  "could 
such  a  picture  be  intended  unless  to  inflame  the  passions 
of  slaves?" — as  if  it  could  sink  deeper  into  their  con 
sciousness  than  the  lash  itself  ! 2  And  in  this  latter  year 
Mr.  Calhoun's  unsuccessful  bill  to  guard  the  South  from 
anti-slavery  propagandism  made  it  a  penal  offence  for 

1  The  newspapers  of  the  day  were  full  of  deprecation  of  it.     His  more 
cautious  friends  counselled  him  to  suppress  it.     Mr.  Sewall  "very  kindly 
offered  to  pay  for  the  whole  of  it  if  I  would  have  plain  type  instead  of 
it"  (MS.   stenographic  report  of  speech  at  the  20th  anniversary  of  the 
Liberator). 

2  Compare  J.  G.  Birney's  letter  to  the  Alabama  Vigilance  Committee 
(Lib.  6:12). 


VOL.  1.1 

"BOSTON, 


.ISHERS.  tNO.  17. 


AT  NO.  II,  MGKCIIA.VrS-  HALL. 

M.  I.I.OYII  OAnniROK.  EDITOR. 


Ai.f ,   t'lita-tflpfoa, 


THE     LIBERATOR. 


IK, ,V'i<""7i"""- ""Jll»  •"-';'" 

^tj^r:;::::^;',:,,:::.::;:":;;:^ 

r.,l,11,.,l  J,..,,d.r.  „,  .nT   p.,.MC  ^...nM-r.   hi. 
lU   pr.looj.UK.n    ,.l     M.nui.l,,,,..     ll.^   rn. ^ 

r\l.m1K.nl      'I'lie  •j«l«m    M    «o    entirely    corr 

t  .'  !,.!, 

ft,1; 


'tSZ&ZZZ 


rdee.n.r   loj.-1l.rr      'I  he    bl  .t 
Ih,,     h,,,.    J...K.  .    („,    ,!„    bb 


J.      O.r 


"""  ......  «*] 

r  Ihr  .....  ali^pjl.ol,  l,ri!(,»r..  *» 

«cooinpl^l.td,      irxl      y^jr«. 
mpire,  befur.  Iht   luul   blot 


Thi  «o.d  of  Ad,,c«  u  <.un.l.«  •„  „«!..<]  .. 


'   cd!tof   of  lh«   Chrwlian   Sccrtti'y 


«""d  » ••' » "r  kr  """""i  i»i.i«  .M.. 

o  (he  cv>lt  or  tlavery  ;  aflbtj^j  inform.!^.,  to  m 


•ZET.  26J  "  THE   LIBERATOR."  233 

postmasters  in  any  State,  District,  or  Territory  "  know-  30  Years' 
ingly  to  deliver,  to  any  person  whatever,  any  pamphlet, 
newspaper,  handbill,  or  other  printed  paper  or  pictorial 
representation,  touching  the  subject  of  slavery,  where,  by 
the  laws  of  the  said  State,  District,  or  Territory,  their 
circulation  was  prohibited." 

"  Editorial  courtesy  "  stood  for  much  more  in  the  first 
third  of  the  century  than  it  does  in  our  day.  The  gra 
tuitous  publication  of  Mr.  Garrison's  prospectus  may 
therefore  have  had  little  personal  significance  j  but  it  is 
probable  that  the  service  was  in  his  case  something  more 
than  perfunctory.  In  the  first  place,  he  was  already  a 
"veteran  journalist/'  judged  by  the  number  of  newspa 
pers  which  he  had  conducted  before  founding  the  Lib 
erator,  and  his  name  must  have  been  familiar  to  a  large 
fraction  of  his  fellow-journalists  through  the  medium  of 
the  exchange-table.  It  was  quite  in  fashion,  as  the  first 
volume  of  the  Liberator  shows,  to  give  a  personal  turn  to 
newspaper  discussion,  whether  friendly  or  otherwise.  In 
the  next  place,  Mr.  Garrison's  imprisonment  had  given 
him  a  fresh  notoriety,  and  should  have  drawn  to  him 
those  who  hated  slavery,  however  silently,  or  saw  in  him 
the  victim  of  an  attempt  on  the  freedom  of  the  press. 
Finally,  South  Carolina,  by  its  nullification  doctrine  and 
attitude,  and  Georgia,  by  its  violation  of  national  treaties 
in  its  insolent  invasion  of  the  Cherokee  State,  had  roused 
to  an  extraordinary  degree  both  the  constitutional  and 
philanthropic  sentiment  of  the  North,  and  made  it  possi 
ble  to  welcome  one  manly  protest  against  the  prevailing 
subserviency  to  "  Southern  rights." 

"By  the  editorial  fraternity  throughout  the  country,  with     MS.  Feb. 
hardly  an  exception,"  writes  Mr.  Garrison  in  a  letter  already     ^s'j^May0 
quoted,  "the  Liberator  has  been  received  with  acclamation ; 
by  the  public  —  the  white  portion  of  it  —  with  suspicion  or 
apathy.     Upon  the  colored  population  in  the  free  States  it  has 
operated  like  a  trumpet-call.     They  have  risen  in  their  hopes 
and  feelings  to  the  perfect  stature  of  men :  in  this  city,  every 
one  of  them  is  as  tall  as  a  giant.     About  ninety  have  subscribed 


234  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAKKISON.  [^ET.  26. 


CHAP.  VIII.  for  the  paper  in  Philadelphia,  and  upwards  of  thirty  in  New 
jj~  York  ;  which  number,  I  am  assured,  will  swell  to  at  least  one 
hundred  in  a  few  weeks.  This,  then,  is  my  consolation  :  if  I 
cannot  do  much,  in  this  quarter,  towards  abolishing  slavery,  I 
may  be  able  to  elevate  our  free  colored  population  in  the  scale 
of  society." 

Exceptions  to  this  "  acclamation  "  were  not  wanting  in 

Lib.  i  :  18.  the  writer's  native  New  England,  whose  "  time-serving, 
unprincipled  and  heartless  n  editors  were  prompt  to  de 
nounce  his  "  violent  and  intemperate  attacks  on  slave 
holders,"  and  his  "mawkish  sentimentality."  That 
transplanted  New  Englander,  George  D.  Prentice,  newly 
put  in  charge  of  the  Louisville  (Ky.)  Journal,  wrote  in 

Lib.  1:27.  his  issue  of  January  25  :  "  Mr.  Garrison  knows  that  we 
are  his  personal  friend,  and  that  we  regard  him  as  one  of 
the  ablest  writers  and  warmest  philanthropists  of  the 
age;  but,  after  all,  some  of  his  opinions  with  regard  to 
slavery  in  the  United  States  are  no  better  than  lunacy." 

Lib.  i  :  39.  The  American  (Washington)  Spectator  regretted  "  to 
observe  the  late  talented  and  persecuted  Junior  Editor 
of  the  Genius  of  Universal  Emancipation  in  the  dying 
ranks  of  this  opposition  [to  African  colonization]  .  We 
hoped  that  his  good  sense  would  ere  long  withdraw  him 
even  from  the  side  of  abolitionists."  Journals  further 
south  were  sparing  of  compliments.  The  Camden  (S.  C.) 

Lib.  1:35,  Journal,  edited  by  an  "  apostate  Yankee,"  threatened  to 
hand  his  "  scandalous  and  incendiary  budget  of  sedition 
.  .  .  to  the  proper  authorities,  as  the  ground  of  a 
prosecution,"  in  case  he  should  venture  within  the  State. 
Mr.  Garrison  bids  him  do  so,  "  and  tell  them  that  as  soon  as 
we  can  make  our  arrangements,  we  intend  removing  the 
office  of  the  Liberator  to  South  Carolina,  or  one  of  the 
slave  States,  where  we  can  meet  the  enemy  on  his  own 
ground.  This  is  too  great  a  distance  to  fire  our  cannon  : 
the  South  gets  merely  its  echoes,  when  she  ought  to 
receive  its  contents." 

As  time  went  on,  the  abuse  thickened.    In  reply  to  a 
colored  committee   who  had  sent  him  a   donation  in 


.fflT.26.]  UTHE   LIBEEATOE."  235 

money,  together  with  their  still  more  precious  approval,   CHAP.VIII. 
he  wrote :  1831. 

"  Foes  are  on  my  right  hand  and  on  my  left.  The  tongue  of  Lib.  i :  139. 
detraction  is  busy  against  me.  I  have  no  communion  with 
the  world — the  world  none  with  me.  The  timid,  the  luke 
warm,  the  base,  affect  to  believe  that  my  brains  are  disordered, 
and  my  words  the  ravings  of  a  maniac.  Even  many  of  my 
friends  —  they  who  have  grown  up  with  me  from  my  child 
hood  —  are  transformed  into  scoffers  and  enemies." 

Worse  things  were  in  store.     To  his  readers  he  says 
presently : 

"  In  attacking  the  system  of  slavery,  I  clearly  foresaw  all  that  Lib.  i :  145. 
has  happened  to  me.  I  knew  at  the  commencement  that  my 
motives  would  be  impeached,  my  warnings  ridiculed,  my  per 
son  persecuted,  my  sanity  doubted,  my  life  jeoparded  j  but  the 
clank  of  the  prisoner's  chains  broke  upon  my  ear  —  it  entered 
deeply  into  my  soul  —  I  looked  up  to  Heaven  for  strength  to 
sustain  me  in  the  perilous  work  of  emancipation,  and  my  reso 
lution  was  taken.  Thanks  be  to  God,  that  resolution  grows 
loftier  with  time,  and  sinks  its  base  deeper  and  broader  as 
danger  approximates.  The  following  letters  infuse  new  blood 
into  my  veins." 

Two  of  these  letters  were  anonymous,  and  fairly  illite-    Lib.  \  •.  145. 
rate  ;  the  first,  from  Princeton,  N.  J.,  perhaps  written  by 
a  Southern  student,  being  an  incoherent  stream  of  vulgar 

profanity,  introduced  by  "You  d d  scoundrel,"  and 

containing  rather  predictions  than  threats,  as,  "  Hell  is 
gaping  for  you !  the  devil  is  feasting  in  anticipation ! " 
The  second  was  signed  "  A  Freeman,"  and  purported  to 
be  written  by  a  Washington  slaveholder.  "  Your  paper, 
sir,"  it  began,  "  cannot  be  much  longer  tolerated.  .  .  . 
Shame  on  the  Freemen  of  Boston  for  permitting  such  a 
vehicle  of  outrage  and  rebellion  to  spring  into  existence 
among  them.  .  .  .  Don't  understand  me,"  he  adds, 
with  a  superfluous  reminder  of  the  prevailing  estimate, 
North  as  well  as  South,  of  the  free  people  of  color,  "  to 
mean  by  the  term  l  freemen ?  yellow-skins  or  knotty 
heads  —  these  I  do  not  recognize  as  such,  nor  are  they 


236  WILLIAM  LLOYD  GAKKISON.  [^ET.  26. 


CHAP.  viii.  looked  upon  by  men  of  high  honor  and  noble  feeling  as 
1sJI.  in  any  degree  elevated  above  a  level  with  slaves."  If 
Boston  did  not  suppress  the  Liberator,  the  Southerners 
would.  The  third  letter  was  from  a  friendly  clergyman,1 
who  reported  to  Mr.  Garrison  a  conversation  in  a  stage 
coach  on  the  way  to  Boston,  of  which  the  subject  was 
"  the  recent  insurrection  of  the  blacks  in  Virginia.7'  One 
said. 

Lib.  i  :  145.  "  It  was  his  opinion,  and  the  opinion  of  many  others,  that 
Win.  L.  Garrison  had  contributed  in  no  small  degree  to  the 
excitement  among  the  blacks  which  had  eventuated  in  that  sad 
catastrophe  ;  that  he  was  inclined  to  think  that  '  Mr.  Garrison 
would  not  be  permitted  to  live  long  '  —  that  he  would  be  '  taken 
away,  and  no  one  be  the  wiser  for  it.'  He  also  stated  that  this 
was  the  opinion  of  many  persons  at  the  South,  where  he  had 
been  living  the  season  past  ;  and  he  added,  that  '  he  had  not 
the  least  doubt  if  Mr.  Garrison  were  to  go  to  the  South,  he 
would  be  dispatched  immediately  '  ;  and  that  he  had  heard  this 
opinion  expressed  by  persons  at  the  South  repeatedly.'1'1 

Lib.  i  :  145.  To  the  clergyman  Mr.  Garrison  says  :  "  I  thank  him 
for  his  friendly  disclosures  :  they  confirm  the  threats  in 
the  preceding  epistles,  but  only  add  to  my  strength  and 
stature."  He  is  willing  his  life  should  be  sacrificed,  if 
required  ;  it  would  undoubtedly  "  accomplish  more  for 
the  anti-slavery  cause  than  even  the  violent  death  of 
Morgan  has  done  for  the  anti-masonic  cause.  This  con 
sideration  is  in  the  highest  degree  consolatory."  As  for 
the  planters:  "I  would  not,  wittingly,  harm  a  hair  of 
their  heads,  nor  injure  them  in  their  lawful  property.  I 
am  not  their  enemy,  but  their  friend.  It  is  true,  I  abhor 
their  oppressive  acts  ;  nor  will  I  cease  to  denounce  them 

i  Rev.  La  Roy  Sunderland,  of  the  Methodist  denomination,  then  settled 
at  Andover,  Mass.  (Lib.  3  :  [94],  and  p.  viii.  of  Phelps's  '  Lectures  on  Slavery 
and  its  Remedy,'  1834).  In  1836  he  founded  in  New  York  Ziorfs  Watchman, 
a  staunch  anti-slavery  paper  (Lib.  6:  11,  and  Johnson's  '  Garrison,'  pp.  187, 
239),  and  published  'The  Testimony  of  God  against  Slavery.'  Mr.  Gar 
rison  thanked  him  privately  for  his  warning,  in  a  letter  dated  Sept.  8,  1831, 
first  printed  in  Lib.  Sept.  18,  1857. 


JET.  26.]  "  THE  LIBEKATOK."  237 

in  terms  of  indignation.     They  will  surely  be  destroyed  CHAP.VIII. 
if  they  do  not  repent.    MEN  MUST  BE  FREE."  1  I87i. 

As  usual  in  this  fervent  time,  Mr.  Garrison's  feelings 
sought  expression  in  verse,  producing  the  sonnet  after 
wards  entitled 

TRUE    COUKAGE.  Ztf.i:i6o; 

Writings  of 

I  boast  no  courage  on  the  battle-field,  W'pLif'' 

Where  hostile  troops  immix  in  horrid  fray; 
For  love  or  fame  I  can  no  weapon  wield, 

With  burning  lust  an  enemy  to  slay:  — 
But  test  my  spirit  at  the  blazing  stake, 

For  advocacy  of  the  RIGHTS  OF  MAN, 
And  TRUTH  —  or  on  the  wheel  my  body  break; 

Let  persecution  place  me  'neath  its  ban ; 
Insult,  defame,  proscribe  my  humble  name; 

Yea,  put  the  dagger  at  my  naked  breast; 
If  I  recoil  in  terror  from  the  flame, 

Or  recreant  prove  when  peril  rears  its  crest, 
To  save  a  limb,  or  shun  the  public  scorn  — 
Then  write  me  down  for  aye,  Weakest  of  woman  born.2 

After  the  Virginia  insurrection,  which  infected  the 
whole  South  with  panic,  the  menaces  through  the  mails 
grew  more  frequent  and  violent : 

"  The  Editor  of  the  Liberator,"  we  read  in  the  issue  for    Lib.  i :  167. 
October  15,   1831,   uis  constantly  receiving    from  the   slave 
States  letters  filled  with  the  most  diabolical  threats  and  in 
decent  language  —  fair   specimens   of   Southern   courage   and 
morality  —  on  which  is  charged  double  or  treble  postage.     He 

1  As  soon  as  this  copy  of  the  Liberator  reached  Arthur  Tappan,  he  sat 
down  and  wrote  as  follows  (MS.) : 

"NEW  YORK,  Sept.  12,  1831. 

"  FRIEND  GARRISON  :  As  I  see  your  life  is  threatened,  I  feel  anxious  to 
have  all  the  advantage  of  it  while  you  live,  and  therefore  enclose  you  one 
hundred  dollars,  to  be  applied  to  the  distribution  of  jour  paper  to  the  lead 
ing  men  in  our  country.  I  could  wish  to  see  more  argument  in  your  columns 
to  show  THE  IMPOSSIBILITY  of  the  Colonization  Society' 's  ever  effecting  the  entire 
removal  of  our  colored  slave  population,  supposing  the  slave-owners  to  be  will 
ing  to  emancipate  their  slaves.  This  idea  has  got  such  hold  of  the  minds 
of  many  good  people  that  it  shuts  out  every  feeling  of  doing  good  to  the 
colored  people  in  any  other  way." 

2 See,  also,  the  sonnet  "Persecution,"  in  Lib.  1:55,  though  in  both  cases 
the  sentiment  is  more  remarkable  than  the  verse. 


238 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON. 


.  26. 


1831. 


Lib.  i :  171. 


Niles  Regis 
ter,  41 : 66. 

Lib.  i :  161. 


CHAP. VIII.  wishes  these  filthy  wretches  to  understand  that  the  tax  is 
promptly  refunded  at  the  Post-office,  and  that  their  maledic 
tions  only  confirm  him  in  his  purpose." 

Nor  was  the  Northern  spirit  less  murderous.  A  letter 
from  Lowell,  signed  "  Revenge,7'  promised  assassination 
by  poison  or  the  dagger  if  the  "infamous  Liberator" 
should  be  published  one  month  longer.1  This  informa 
tion,  commented  Mr.  Garrison,  "  afflicts  us  less  than  the 
postage  —  six  cents." 

Meantime,  editors  of  respectable  papers  began  to 
invoke  mob  violence,  euphemistically  called  "  an  exer 
tion  of  public  opinion,"  in  Boston.  The  "Washington  Na 
tional  Intelligencer  copied  from  the  Tarboro'  (N.  C.)  Free 
Press  (!)  a  letter  addressed  to  the  postmaster  of  that 
town,  charging  Mr.  Garrison  with  publishing  an  "in 
cendiary  paper,"  "  with  the  avowed  purpose  of  inciting 
rebellion  in  the  South,"  and  circulating  it  through  "  secret 
agents  "  disguised  as  peddlers,  for  whom  "  barbecuing  " 
—  that  is,  roasting  alive  —  was  recommended  if  caught. 
The  Intelligencer,  with  no  word  of  disapproval,  repeated 
the  allegation  that  the  Liberator  was  designed  to  lead  to 
"precisely  such  results  as  the  Southampton  Tragedy," 
and  called  upon  the  Mayor  of  Boston 2  to  find  some  law 
to  stop  the  publication  of  such  "  diabolical  papers." 
"  The  crime  is  as  great  as  that  of  poisoning  the  waters 
of  life  to  a  whole  community."  "  We  know  nothing  of 
the  man:  we  desire  not  to  have  him  unlawfully  dealt 
with  :  we  can  even  conceive  of  his  motive  being  good  in 
his  own  opinion," — but  the  citizens  of  Boston  are  urged 
to  step  forward  and  "  vindicate  the  cause  of  humanity,  as 
it  is  outraged  by  the  publication  to  which  we  refer."  Mr. 
Garrison  in  vain  sought  a  hearing  in  self-defence  in  the 
Lib.  i :  165.  columns  of  Messrs.  Gales  and  Seaton  : 3  "  You  have  (I 

1  This  letter  has  by  chance  been  preserved. 

2  Harrison  Gray  Otis,  the  third  incumbent  of  the  office  (succeeding  Josiah 
Quincy),  1829-31. 

3  "  The  one  an  English  cockney,  with  little  to  recommend  him  but  his 
inflated  vanity,  and  the  other  a  sprig  of  the  negro  aristocracy  of  North 
Carolina"  (Lundy,  Genius,  October,  1831). 


^T. 26.]  "THE  LIBERATOR."  239 

hope  unintentionally)  calumniated  my  character  and  put  CHAP.VIII. 
my  life  in  jeopardy."     There  were  several  reasons  why        ^Jj. 
the  editors  of  the  Intelligencer  should  refuse  to  print  a 
letter  from   "this   madman/'  telling   them    that  their 
remarks  on  the  Tarboro'  extract  "  breathe  the  spirit  of 
murder  and  exhibit  the  incoherency  of  madness."    Yet, 
as  he  reminded  them,   they  had  "  unhesitatingly  pub 
lished  "  his  prospectus,  in  which  his  peace  doctrine  was 
set  forth.     Moreover,  he  had    not  a   single  subscriber, 
black  or  white,  south  of  the  Potomac. 

They  could,  nevertheless,  be  hospitable  to  a  Virginian  Lib.  i :  166. 
who  suggested  that  the  Liberator  might  be  "  treated  as  a 
seditious  libel,  published  in  the  District,  or  any  other 
place  to  which  it  may  be  sent  by  its  author :  that  the 
fact  of  publication  being  procured  by  the  author,  he  is  a 
principal  offender  in  the  place  where  the  publication  is 
made,  although  he  may  never  have  been  personally 
present  there  in  his  life.'7  After  citing  cases,  the  writer 
proceeded : 

"  Let  the  offender,  then,  in  this  ease,  be  demanded  by  the 
President  or  the  Governor  of  Virginia,  and  prosecuted  in  the 
place  where  he  has  procured  his  incendiary  paper  to  be  dis 
tributed  ;  and  I  think  law  may  be  found  to  punish  him.  I  will 
answer  for  the  event  if  we  lay  hands  upon  him  in  Virginia.  If 
the  Governor  of  Massachusetts  should  refuse,  then  let  the 
People  of  the  South  offer  an  adequate  reward  to  any  person 
who  will  deliver  him,  dead  or  alive,  into  the  hands  of  the 
authorities  of  any  State  south  of  the  Potomac." 

This  temper  seemed  to  the  Intelligencer  "  very  natural 
under  the  circumstances,"  if  inexpedient  to  act  upon  ; 
the  legal  view  it  would  not  dispute.  The  "  desperate 
proposal,"  exclaims  Mr.  Garrison,  "  caps  the  climax  of 
Southern  mendacity  and  folly.  My  contempt  of  it  is 
unutterable.  Nothing  but  my  own  death,  or  a  want  of 
patronage,  shall  stop  the  Liberator."  When  the  Southern 
papers  call  him  hostis  Jmmani  generis,  a  "fiendish  editor," 
the  "  apologist  of  the  blacks  in  the  recent  Virginia  insur 
rection,"  he  replies  :  "  Although  I  preach  submission  to  Lib.  i :  166. 


240  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GARRISON.  |>ET.  26. 

CHAP. viii.  the  slaves,  still  I  am  denounced  as  a  monster.  Do  the 
1831.  planters  wish  me  to  inculcate  a  revengeful  doctrine  ?  " 

Lib.  i :  171.  In  October  the  corporation  of  Georgetown,  D.  C.,  passed 
a  law  prohibiting  any  free  person  of  color  from  taking 
the  Liberator  from  the  post-office,  under  pain  of  twenty 
dollars'  fine  or  thirty  days'  imprisonment ;  and  if  fine 
and  jail  fees  were  not  paid,  directing  such  person  to  be 
sold  as  a  slave  for  four  months.  It  was  one  of  the  func 
tions  of  the  Liberator  to  remind  them  that  this  law  was 
unconstitutional,  and  that  they  "  must  be  prepared  to 
answer  for  their  conduct  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States."  The  Charleston  (S.  C.)  Mercury  of  Octo 
ber  4  reported  that  a  Vigilance  Association  of  Columbia, 
"  composed  of  gentlemen  of  the  first  respectability,"  had 
offered  a  reward  of  fifteen  hundred  dollars  for  the  appre 
hension  and  prosecution  to  conviction  of  any  white 
person  circulating  the  Liberator  or  '  Walker's  Pamphlet/ 
"  or  any  other  publication  of  seditious  tendency."  Similar 

Lib.  i :  174-  action  was  taken  at  a  public  meeting  in  Bethesda  (Rich 
mond  Co.),  Georgia.  In  the  first  week  of  the  same  month 
there  reached  the  post-office  at  Raleigh,  N.  C.,  a  copy  of 

Lib.  1:171.  the  Liberator  "  containing  the  most  illiberal  and  cold 
blooded  allusions  to  the  late  supposed  insurrection  among 
our  slaves  "  (one  of  the  baseless  frights  engendered  every 
where  by  Turner's  outbreak) ;  and,  the  Grand  Jury  being 
then  in  session,  the  Attorney-General  submitted  an  in 
dictment  against  William  Lloyd  Garrison  and  Isaac 
Knapp,  for  the  "  circulation  and  publication w  of  the 
Liberator  "  in  this  county,  in  contravention  to  the  act  of 
the  last  General  Assembly."  A  true  bill  was  found 
accordingly;  and  "  so,  we  suppose,"  adds  the  news- writer, 
"  the  accused  will  be  demanded  by  the  Governor  of  this 
State.  .  .  .  The  act  makes  the  offence  Felony — 
whipping  and  imprisonment  for  the  first  offence,  and 
death,  without  benefit  of  clergy,  for  the  second."1 

lAs  usual,  Arthur  Tappan  was  promptly  on  hand  with  material  and 
moral  support.  Under  date  of  Oct.  18, 1831,  he  writes  from  New  York  (MS.) : 
"  Mr.  Lundy  this  morning  [read]  me  an  extract  from  a  N.  C.  paper,  stating 


Mi.  26.]  "  THE   LIBERATOR."  241 

That  there  was  no  law  in  Massachusetts  for  suppress-  CHAP.VIII. 
ing  the  Liberator,  or  that  any  was  needed,  was  a  cause  ^i. 
of  the  greatest  surprise  to  the  South.  In  December, 
Governor  Hamilton,  of  South  Carolina,  sent  a  special 
message  to  the  Legislature,  accompanied  by  copies  of  the  Lib.  i :  207. 
Liberator  and  of  Mr.  Garrison's  '  Address  to  the  Free 
People  of  Color '  delivered  in  June  in  various  cities  of 
the  North.  In  this  message  he  referred  to  a  letter  of  the 
Governor  of  Virginia  which  "  leaves  no  doubt  that  the 
spirit  of  insubordination  in  that  State  was  excited  by 
incendiary  newspapers  and  other  publicationsr  put  forth 
in  the  non-slaveholding  States  and  freely  circulated 
within  the  limits  of  Virginia  " ;  also,  to  a  complaint  made 
by  the  Savannah  authorities  respecting  the  publication 
and  distribution  of  the  above-mentioned  incendiary  docu 
ments  "  as  inconsistent  with  a  just  regard  to  the  obliga 
tions  of  the  Union,"  and  calling  for  their  suppression 
with  suitable  punishments  —  a  complaint  which  was 
answered  by  the  constituted  authorities  of  Boston  "  that 
they  had  no  power  to  interfere,  however  justly  they 
might  reprehend  the  mischievous  tendency  of  these 
publications."  Governor  Hamilton  was  confident  that 
the  same  agencies  were  at  work  in  South  Carolina  and 
throughout  the  South,  and  thought  it  an  extraordinary 
fact  that,  "in  a  peaceful  and  united  confederacy  of 
States,"  it  was  necessary  to  submit  without  remedy  to 
acts  of  hostility  and  annoyance  from  citizens  of  one  of 
its  members,  whereas,  if  the  States  were  separate,  these 

that  the  Grand  Jury  had  found  a  bill  of  indictment  against  you  and  your 
partner  '  for  distributing  incendiary  papers  in  that  State ' ;  and  that  you 
would  be  demanded  from  the  Governor  of  Mass.  I  do  not  know  how  much 
importance  to  attach  to  this,  but  I  wish  to  say  that  if  money  is  needed  to 
save  you  from  the  fangs  of  these  wretches,  I  will  supply  it.  I  annex  a 
letter  of  credit  for  $1000,  and  authorize  you  to  use  it  without  hesitation,  if 
there  should  be  occasion,  in  any  way  your  personal  safety  may  require, 
[and]  you  may  depend  on  as  much  more  if  it  should  be  [needed],  of  which 
I  hope  you  will  not  fail  to  advise  me."  In  the  same  letter  Mr.  Tappan 
related  that  his  house  at  New  Haven  had  been  stoned  a  few  nights  before 
by  some  obscene  fellows,  shouting  "  Magdalen  "  (see  '  Life  of  Arthur  Tap- 
pan,'  p.  112)  and  "  Immediate  Emancipation."  See,  also,  Lib.  1:171. 

VOL.  I.— 16 


242  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GABEISON.  [-£T.  26. 

CHAP.  viii.  acts  would  justify  a  suspension  of  pacific  relations.  He 
1831.  therefore  asked  for  authority  to  communicate  with  the 
Governor  of  Massachusetts  and  call  the  Legislature's 
attention  to  this  wrong.  His  view  was  more  tersely  ex 
pressed  by  the  Columbia  Telescope  when  it  said  :  "  They 

Lib.  i :  195.  [the  Bostonians]  permit  a  battery  to  be  erected  upon 
their  territory,  which  fires  in  upon  us,  and  we  should  be 
justified  in  invading  that  territory  to  silence  the  guns." 

Ante,  p.  2^.  The  Intelligencer's  appeal  to  "  the  worthy  Mayor  of  the 
City  of  Boston ??  for  some  action  towards  legal  suppres- 

NUes  Regis-  sion  or  public  disavowal  of  the  Liberator,  was  the  first 
intimation  he  had  had  of  that  paper's  existence.  A 
fortnight  later  (October  15)  he  received  from  "  an  emi 
nent  counsellor  of  the  State  of  South  Carolina"  (no 
doubt,  Senator  Hayne)  a  private  communication  to  the 
same  end,  to  which  Mr.  Otis  made  a  long  reply.1  He 
had  by  that  time  procured  a  copy  of  the  Liberator,  but 
had  not  ascertained  the  name  of  any  person  taking  it, 
and  concluded  that  "its  patronage  must  be  extremely 
limited  " : 

"  I  am  told  that  it  is  supported  chiefly  by  the  free  colored 
people  j  that  the  number  of  subscribers  in  Baltimore  and 
Washington  exceeds  that  of  those  in  this  city,  and  that  it  is 
gratuitously  left  at  one  or  two  of  the  reading-rooms  in  this 
place.  It  is  edited  by  an  individual  who  formerly  lived  at 
Baltimore,  where  his  feelings  have  been  exasperated  by  some 
occurrences  consequent  to  his  publications  there,2  on  topics 

1  First  given  to  the  public  in  the  fall  of  1833,  through  the  Boston  Adver 
tiser.     See,  also,  Niles*  Register,  45  :  42,  Sept.  14. 

2  This  notion,  that  Mr.  Garrison's  heat  against  slavery  must  be  the  pas 
sionate  resentment  of  an  injured  man,  was  not  peculiar  to  Mayor  Otis.     It 
is  apologetically  put  forth  in  the  following  (MS.)  letter  from  President 
Wayland  of  Brown  University,  which  is  also  noteworthy  for  its  perverse 
assumption  that  the  editor  of  the  Liberator  was  promoting  a  slave  insur 
rection,  as  well  as  for  the  sophistry  of  the  future  author  of  the  '  Elements 
of  Moral  Science.'    Its  date  (after  the  Southampton  rising)  should  not  be 
overlooked : 

'  PROVIDENCE,  Nov.  1,  1831. 

"DEAR  SIR:  Having  directed  the  paper  which  you  have  very  politely 
sent  me  to  be  discontinued,  various  considerations  render  it  proper  that  I 
should  frankly  state  to  you  my  reasons  for  having  done  so. 


Mi.  26.]  "  THE  LIBERATOR."  243 

connected  with  the  condition  of  slaves  in  this  country.     On   CHAP. VIII. 
these  particulars  I  mean  to  seek  for  more  exact  information,         I^7I 
which  I  am  told  will  be  attainable,  as  the  editor  makes  no 
secret  of  his  purpose,  or  his  list  of  subscribers.    Meanwhile, 
the  statement  must  be  sumcient  to  convince   you  and  your 
friends  of  the  insignificant  countenance  and  support  which  the 
paper  itself  derives  from  this  city.     The  paper  which  I  read 
contained,  among  speculations  which  I  consider  atrocious  and 
detestable,  others  compiled  from  essays,  foreign  and  domestic, 


' '  I  believe  as  strongly  as  any  other  man  that  slavery  is  very  wicked,  and 
very  destructive  to  the  best  interests  both  of  master  and  slave.  But  this 
does  not  seem  to  me  to  decide  that  immediate  emancipation  of  all  the 
slaves  in  the  U.  S.  would  be  either  wise  or  just.  Very  much  may  be 
required  to  be  done  before  liberty  would  be  a  blessing  to  the  slave.  I  may 
have  embezzled  the  property  of  a  minor,  and  may  have  brought  him  up  in 
misery  and  vice.  It  is  wrong  for  me  to  hold  this  property  for  my  own 
benefit,  but  it  would  be  neither  wise  nor  right  to  put  it  at  once  into  the 
possession  of  my  ward,  and  by  so  doing  to  expose  him  to  temptations 
which  his  previous  education  had  not  prepared  him  to  resist.  I  should 
first  teach  him  how  to  use  it,  and  then  put  him  in  possession  of  it. 

"  But  even  granting  the  propriety  of  Immediate  Emancipation,  there  are 
other  important  questions  to  be  settled.  Shall  we  seek  to  bring  about  this 
event  by  enlightening,  convincing,  and  persuading  the  masters,  or  by 
exciting  to  rebellion  the  slaves  ? 

"If  this  desirable  event  can  be  accomplished  by  the  first  of  these 
methods,  it  will  prevent  bloodshed  ;  it  will  improve  the  moral  character  of 
both  parties  ;  it  will  bind  them  together  by  the  feeling  of  benevolence  on 
the  one  hand,  and  gratitude  on  the  other ;  it  will  be  permanent  in  its 
effects,  and  will  be  a  glorious  triumph  to  the  cause  of  philanthropy  by 
inducing  man  voluntarily  to  perform  a  great  and  noble  action.  Such 
seems  to  me  the  mode  which  Christianity  would  approve. 

"  If  we,  on  the  contrary,  attempt  to  accomplish  this  result  by  exciting 
the  slaves  to  rebellion,  success  can  only  be  looked  for  after  a  most  bloody 
servile  war,  destructive  to  all  the  better  feelings  of  both  parties,  leaving 
them  in  interminable  hatred,  and  utterly  unfit  for  any  permanently 
amicable  adjustment ;  and  after  all,  the  event  will  be  left  to  the  mere 
accident  of  physical  superiority.  Whichever  might  succeed,  neither  party 
would  be  substantially  better  off  than  at  present,  and  an  ocean  of  blood 
would  have  been  needlessly  shed.  Men  are  not  often  made  better  or  hap 
pier  by  war,  specially  by  servile  war,  the  most  destructive  and  demoral 
izing  of  all  the  forms  of  human  massacre. 

"Now  I  regret  to  say,  my  dear  sir,  that  so  far  as  I  can  judge,  the  ten 
dency  of  your  paper  is  to  produce  the  latter  of  these  results.  Its  attitude 
to  the  slave-owners  is  menacing  and  vindictive.  The  tendency  of  your  re 
marks  is  to  prejudice  their  minds  against  a  cool  discussion  of  the  subject. 
On  the  contrary,  the  miseries  of  the  slaves  are  set  forth  in  a  manner  cal 
culated  to  arouse  their  most  destructive  passions  [and  urge]  them  on  to 
resistance  at  all  hazards.  Should  such  a  catastrophe  ever  occur,  I  am  sure 


244  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARKISON.  [^T.  26. 

CHAP. VIII.    upon  the  subject  of  slavery  in  the  abstract ; l  and  I  am  per- 

jZj          suaded  that  if  upon  investigation  it  should  be  found  that  any 

of  our  citizens  are  among  the  subscribers,  they  are  those  who 

would  sincerely  disavow  the   horrid   doctrines  which  openly 

encourage  insurrection  and  its  consequences,"  etc. 

What  came  of  further  inquiry  is  related  in  the  letter 
Lib.  18 : 162.  of  ex-Mayor  Otis  published  in  October,  1848.2  in  defence 
of  the  candidacy  of  Zachary  Taylor  against  the  senti 
mental  objection  that  the  Whig  nominee  for  President 
was  a  slaveholder.  In  an  historical  digression  slightly 
at  variance  with  the  foregoing  account,  he  says : 

"  No  symptom  of  the  abolition  mania,  or  a  desire  to  interfere 
with  the  domestic  concerns  of  the  South,  was  manifested  in  any 
quarter  till  within  a  few  years.  The  rise  and  progress  of  this 
fever  is  curious.  The  first  information  received  by  me  of  a 
disposition  to  agitate  this  subject  in  our  State  was  from  the 
Governors  of  Virginia  and  Georgia,  severally  remonstrating 
against  an  incendiary  newspaper  published  in  Boston,  and,  as 
they  alleged,  thrown  broadcast  among  their  plantations,  inciting 
to  insurrection  and  its  horrid  results.  It  appeared  on  enquiry 
that  no  member  of  the  city  government,  nor  any  person  of  my 
acquaintance,  had  ever  heard  of  the  publication.  Some  time 
afterward,  it  was  reported  to  me  by  the  city  officers  that  they 
had  ferreted  out  the  paper  and  its  editor;3  that  his  office  was 
an  obscure  hole,  his  only  visible  auxiliary  a  negro  boy,  and  his 

that  you  or  I  would  rather  have  lost  our  right  hand  than  have  written  a 
word  which  should  have  contributed  in  the  least  degree  to  hasten  it. 

"I  believe  that  you,  my  dear  sir,  have  suffered  injustice  in  consequence 
of  your  efforts  in  this  cause.  But  let  us  remember  the  Gospel  teaches  us 
forgiveness.  Let  us  strive  to  do  good  to  all  men — masters  as  well  as  slaves. 
In  this  course  we  shall  be  more  useful,  and,  I  think,  follow  more  closely 
our  Master  in  Heaven. 

"  With  every  sentiment  of  respect,  I  am,  dear  sir, 
' '  Yours  truly, 

"  F.  WAYLAND. 

"Mr.  W.  LLOYD  GARRISON,  Boston." 

1  And  therefore  presumably  harmless.  "The  great  mass  of  slaveholders," 
wrote  Mr.  Garrison,  "while  they  profess  to  be  opposed  to  slavery  in  the 
abstract  (would  to  Heaven  there  was  no  slavery  but  slavery  in  the  abstract !  ), 
are  incurably  attached  to  practical  slavery"  (Lib.  2: 194). 

2  His  last  political  utterance.     He  died  on  October  28. 

3  Mayor  Otis  might  have  saved  the  "  ferreting "  by  handing  the  city 
officers  his  copy  of  the  Liberator,  with  the  publication  office  declared  upon 
the  first  page.    He  had  had  practice  in  this  sort  of  inquisition  (ante,  p.  160). 


^T.  26.  J  "  THE   LIBEKATOR."  245 

supporters  a  very  few  insignificant  persons  of  all  colors.1     This   CHAP. VIII. 
information,  with  the  consent  of  the  aldermen,  I  communicated          JT~ 
to  the  above-named  governors,  with  an  assurance  of  my  belief 
that  the  new  fanaticism  had  not  made,  nor  was  likely  to  make, 
proselytes  among  the  respectable  classes  of  our  people.   In  this, 
however,  I  was  mistaken." 

Although  Mayor  Otis  was  lawyer  enough  to  write  his 
brother  lawyer  in  South  Carolina :  "  You  must  perceive 
the  intrinsic,  if  not  insuperable,  obstacles  to  legislative 
enactments  made  to  prevent  crimes  from  being  consum 
mated  beyond  the  local  jurisdiction,"  he  did  not  refuse 
to  help  lay  a  possible  "  foundation "  for  some  kind  of 
Federal  or  inter-State  action.  The  prying  visit  of  his 
officers  needed  a  pretext,  and  under  the  head  of  "  Infor 
mation  Wanted  "  we  read  in  the  Liberator  of  October  29 :  Lib.  i :  175. 

l  This  passage  inspired  Lowell's  elevated  poem  to  W.  L.  Garrison  : 

"In  a  small  chamber,  friendless  and  unseen, 
Toiled  o'er  his  types  one  poor,  unlearned  young  man  ; 

The  place  was  dark,  unfurnitured,  and  mean;  — 
Yet  there  the  freedom  of  a  race  began. 

"Help  came  but  slowly;  surely  no  man  yet 

Put  lever  to  the  heavy  world  with  less: 
What  need  of  help?    He  knew  how  types  were  set, 

He  had  a  dauntless  spirit,  and  a  press. 

"Such  earnest  natures  are  the  fiery  pith, 

The  compact  nucleus,  round  which  systems  grow! 
Mass  after  mass  becomes  inspired  therewith, 

And  whirls  impregnate  with  the  central  glow. 

"O  Truth!  O  Freedom!  how  are  ye  still  born 

In  the  rude  stable,  in  the  manger  nursed ! 
What  humble  hands  unbar  those  gates  of  morn 

Through  which  the  splendors  of  the  New  Day  burst! 

"What!   shall  one  monk,  scarce  known  beyond  his  cell, 

Front  Rome's  far-reaching  bolts,  and  scorn  her  frown  ? 
Brave  Luther  answered  YES! — that  thunder's  swell 

Rocked  Europe,  and  discharmed  the  triple  crown. 

• 
"'Whatever  can  be  known  of  earth,  we  know,' 

Sneered  Europe's  >wise  men,  in  their  snail-shells  curled  ; 
No!   said  one  man  in  Genoa,  and  that  No 

Out  of  the  dark  created  Jhis  New  World. 


246  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARKISON.  [^T.  26. 

CHAP. VIII.  «  The  Hon.  Robert  Y.  Hayne,  of  Columbia,  S.  C.  (through 
jgTj  the  medium  of  a  letter),  wishes  to  know  of  the  Mayor  of  Boston 
who  sent  a  number  of  the  Liberator  to  him,  a  few  weeks  ago  ? 
The  Mayor  of  Boston  (through  the  medium  of  a  deputy)  wishes 
to  know  of  Mr.  Garrison  whether  he  sent  the  aforesaid  number 
to  the  aforesaid  individual  ?  Mr.  Garrison  (through  the  medium 
of  his  paper)  wishes  to  know  of  the  Hon.  Robert  Y.  Hayne,  of 
Columbia,  S.  C.,  and  the  Mayor  of  Boston,  what  authority  they 
have  to  put  such  questions  ?  " 

The  South  was  mistaken  in  supposing  the  Bostonians 
indifferent  to  the  defects  of  their  legislation.  Even 
Hosea  Biglow's  "  Mister  Buckinum," l  whose  liberal  con 
duct  of  the  Courier  had  won  Mr.  Garrison's  admiration 
and  gratitude,  could  humble  himself  in  this  fashion : 

Lib.  i:  183.         "  It  is  unquestionably  true,  as  they  [the  editors  of  abolition 
papers  '  seldom  seen  here '  and  '  seldom  mentioned  but  with 

"Who  is  it  will  not  dare  himself  to  trust? 

Who  is  it  hath  not  strength  to  stand  alone? 
Who  is  it  thwarts  and  bilks  the  inward  MUST  ? 

He  and  his  works,  like  sand,  from  earth  are  blown. 

"Men  of  a  thousand  shifts  and  wiles,  look  here! 

See  one  straightforward  conscience  put  in  pawn 
To  win  a  world!    See  the  obedient  sphere 

By  bravery's  simple  gravitation  drawn! 

"Shall  we  not  heed  the  lesson  taught  of  old, 

And  by  the  Present's  lips  repeated  still, 
In  our  own  single  manhood  to  be  bold, 

Fortressed  in  conscience  and  impregnable  will '? 

"We  stride  the  river  daily  at  its  spring, 
Nor,  in  our  childish  thoughtlessness,  foresee 

What  myriad  vassal  streams  shall  tribute  bring, 
How  like  an  equal  it  shall  greet  the  sea. 

"O  small  beginnings,  ye  are  great  and  strong, 

Based  on  a  faithful  heart  and  weariless  brain ! 
Ye  build  the  future  fair,  ye  conquer  wrong, 
0         Ye  earn  the  crown,  and  wear  it  not  in  vain !  " 

1  The  Hon.  Joseph  T.  Buckingham.  "  Send  it  to  mister  Buckinurn,  ses 
he,  i  don't  oilers  agree  with  him,  ses  he,  but  by  Time,  ses  he,  I  du  like  a 
feller  that  ain't  a  Feared  '*  ( '  Biglow  Papers,'  p.  15).  But  this  was  in  1846. 


.  26.] 


"THE  LIBEKATOE." 


247 


abhorrence ']  will  contend,  that  every  man  has  a  right  to  advo-  CHAP.VIII. 
cate  abolition,  or  conspiracy,  or  murder;  for  he  may  do  all  l^I 
these  without  breaking  our  laws,  although  in  any  Southern 
State  public  justice  and  public  safety  would  require  his  punish 
ment.  But  if  we  have  no  laws  upon  the  subject,  it  is  because 
the  exigency  was  not  anticipated.  .  .  .  Penal  statutes  against 
treasonable  and  seditious  publications  are  necessary  in  all  com 
munities.  We  have  them  for  our  own  protection  ;  if  they 
should  include  provisions  for  the  protection  of  our  neighbors 
it  would  be  no  additional  encroachment  upon  the  liberty  of  the 
press." 

But  all  such  protestations  went  for  nothing :  the  South 
had  no  patience  to  wait  for  their  translation  into  censor 
ship,  or  even  into  mobs.  At  Milledgeville,  Georgia,  in 
the  State  Senate,  the  practical  Mr.  Nesbit  introduced,  on 
the  29th  of  November,  1831,  a  resolution  offering  a 

reward  of  dollars  for  the  apprehension  of  Mr. 

Garrison,  which  finally  took  the  following  shape  : 


"  IN  SENATE,  November  30,  1831. 

u  Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
State  of  Georgia,  in  General  Assembly  met.  That  the  sum  of  five 
thousand  dollars  be,  and  the  same  is  hereby,  appropriated  to 
be  paid  to  any  person  or  persons  who  shall  arrest,  bring  to 
trial  and  prosecute  to  conviction,  under  the  laws  of  this  State, 
the  editor  or  publisher  of  a  certain  paper  called  the  Liberator, 
published  in  the  town  of  Boston  and  State  of  Massachusetts  ; 
or  who  shall  arrest,  bring  to  trial  and  prosecute  to  conviction, 
under  the  laws  of  this  State,  any  other  person  or  persons  who 
shall  utter,  publish  or  circulate  within  the  limits  of  this  State 
said  paper  called  the  Liberator,  or  any  other  paper,  circular, 
pamphlet,  letter  or  address  of  a  seditious  character. 

"  And  that  his  Excellency  the  Governor  is  hereby  authorized 
and  requested  to  issue  his  warrant  upon  the  Treasurer,  for  said 
sum  of  five  thousand  dollars,  in  favor  of  any  person  or  persons 
who  shall  have  arrested  and  brought  to  trial  and  prosecuted  to 
conviction,  under  the  laws  of  this  State,  the  editor  or  publisher 
of  the  Liberator ;  or  who  shall  have  arrested  and  brought  to 
trial  or  prosecuted  to  conviction,  under  the  laws  of  this  State, 
any  other  person  or  persons  who  shall  utter,  publish  or  circu 
late  within  the  limits  of  this  State  said  paper  called  the  Liberator, 


Laws  of 
Georgia  for 
1831,^.255; 
Lib.  3 : 123. 


248  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GARRISON.  [2BT.  26. 

CHAP. VIII.   or  any  other  paper,  circular,  pamphlet,  letter  or  address  of  a 
lg~          seditious  character. 

"  And  that  these  resolutions  be  inserted  in  the  appropriation 
act. 

"  And  resolved  further,  That  his  Excellency  the  Governor 
cause  the  foregoing  resolutions  to  be  published  in  the  public 
journals  of  this  State,  and  such  other  papers  as  he  may  think 
proper,  and  pay  for  the  publication  thereof,  out  of  the  con 
tingent  fund. 

"  Read  and  agreed  to. 

"  THOMAS  STOCKS,  President. 
"  Attest,  I.  L.  HARRIS,  Secretary. 

u  In  the  House  of  Representatives. 
"  Concurred  in,  Dec.  24,  1831. 

"  ASBURY  HULL,  Speaker. 
"  Attest,  W.  C.  DAWSON,  Clerk. 

"  Approved,  Dec.  26,  1831. 

"  WILSON  LUMPKIN,  Governor." 

Lib.  i :  203.  These  resolutions  were  justly  described  by  Mr.  Gar 
rison  as  a  "  bribe  to  kidnappers,"  a  "  reward  for  the 
abduction  of  our  persons  "  : 

"  Scarcely,"  he  continued,  "  has  a  proposition  of  so  monstrous 
a  nature  ever  been  submitted  to  any  public  body  in  any  country. 
Yet,  we  presume,  so  indifferent  or  servile  are  nineteen-twentieths 
of  the  newspapers  that  it  will  elicit  scarcely  a  single  editorial 
rebuke.  Of  one  thing  we  are  sure  :  all  Southern  threats  and 
rewards  will  be  insufficient  to  deter  us  from  pursuing  the  work 
of  emancipation.  As  citizens  of  the  United  States,  we  know 
our  rights  and  dare  maintain  them.  We  have  committed  no 
crime,  but  are  expending  our  health,  comfort  and  means  for 
the  salvation  of  our  country,  and  for  the  interest  and  security 
of  infatuated  slaveholders,  as  well  as  for  the  relief  of  the  poor 
slaves.  We  are  not  the  enemies  of  the  South  because  we  tell 
her  the  truth." 

The  proposition  was,  in  fact,  so  monstrous  that  in  our 
day  an  ill-informed  chief  magistrate  of  Georgia,  Gov 
ernor  Colquitt,  has  publicly  hazarded  the  belief  that  the 
N.  Y.  Sun,    tradition  of  it  was  "  an  utterly  unfounded  slander  on  the 
i879.4'      State."    Happily  for  him  he  was  able  to  express  this 


.  26.] 


THE   LIBEKATOK.7 


249 


"  incendiary  "  sentiment  at  a  time  when  the  abolition  of  CHAP.VIII. 
slavery  had  made  it  perfectly  safe  to  do  so  on  the  soil  of        IsJI. 
Georgia — thanks  to  the  editor  who  wrote  further,  on  the 
news  of  the  passage  of  the  resolution  : 

'*  A  price  set  upon  the  head  of  a  citizen  of  Massachusetts  —  Lib.  i :  207. 
for  what  ?  For  daring  to  give  his  opinions  of  the  moral  aspect 
of  slavery !  Where  is  the  liberty  of  the  press  and  of  speech  ? 
where  the  spirit  of  our  fathers  f  where  the  immunities  secured 
to  us  by  our  Bill  of  Rights  ?  Are  we  the  slaves  of  Southern 
taskmasters  ?  Is  it  treason  to  maintain  the  principles  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  ?  Must  we  say  that  slavery  is  a 
sacred  and  benevolent  institution,  or  be  silent  ?  —  Know  this, 
ye  Senatorial  Patrons  of  kidnappers!  that  we  despise  your 
threats  as  much  as  we  deplore  your  infatuation ;  nay,  more  — 
know  that  a  hundred  men  stand  ready  to  fill  our  place  as  soon 
as  it  is  made  vacant  by  violence.  The  Liberator  shall  yet  live  — 
live  to  warn  you  of  your  danger  and  guilt  —  live  to  plead  for 
the  perishing  slaves  —  live  to  hail  the  day  of  universal  emanci 
pation  ! " 

The  Northern,  and  especially  the  New-England,  press, 
which  had  resented  the  North  Carolina  indictment  and 
proposed  demand  for  the  extradition  of  Garrison  and 
Knapp,  seasoned  its  indignation  at  the  Georgia  offer  with 
a  humor  still  more  fatal  to  Southern  pretensions.  Mr. 
Garrison  wanted  no  better  vindication  than  he  found  in 
the  events  succeeding  the  22d  of  August,  1831,  the  bloody 
Monday  on  which  Nat  Turner  and  his  fellow- slaves 
attacked  some  dozen  white  families  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Southampton,  shot  or  otherwise  murdered  them  out 
right —  but  without  plunder  or  outrage  —  and  threw  not 
only  Virginia  but  every  slaveholding  State  into  the 
wildest  excitement.  Of  the  whites  fifty-five  thus  per 
ished  ;  the  blacks,  quickly  dispersed  and  hunted,  yielded 
at  least  a  hundred  victims,  of  whom  many  were  doubt 
less  innocent.  The  deluded  "  prophet,7'  more  fortunate 
than  some  of  his  followers,  was  hung :  their  flesh  was  Lib.  i :  159. 
burnt  with  red-hot  irons,  their  faces  mutilated,  their  "  jaws 
broken  asunder  and  then  set  up  as  a  mark  to  shoot  at,'7 
their  hamstrings  cut,  their  bodies  stuck  like  hogs,  their 


Lib.  i :  175, 
191. 

Lib.  2  :  3,  7. 


Niles  Regis 
ter,  Aug.  27, 
1831  ,p.  455- 


Ibid.,  Sept. 
24,  1831,  p. 
67;  Oct.  15, 
p.  130,  131, 
Lib.  i :  155, 
162,170,174 
190;  2:6. 


250  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON.  [^T.  26. 

CHAP.  viii.  heads  spiked  to  the  whipping-post.  When  the  first  news 
1831.  °f  the  outbreak  reached  the  North,  Mr.  Garrison  wrote  : 

£#.1:143.  "What  we  have  so  long  predicted — at  the  peril  of 
being  stigmatized  as  an  alarmist  and  declaimer  —  has 
commenced  its  fulfilment."  Was  it  not  his  warning,  only 
eight  months  ago  — 

"  Wo  if  it  come  with  storm,  and  blood,  and  fire  "  ? 

As  for  those  who  were  joining  in  the  outcry  against  the 
revolt : 

"  Ye  patriotic  hypocrites !  ye  panegyrists  of  Frenchmen, 
Greeks,  and  Poles !  .  .  .  Cast  no  reproach  upon  the  con 
duct  of  the  slaves,  but  let  your  lips  and  cheeks  wear  the  blisters 
of  condemnation !  Ye  accuse  the  pacific  friends  of  emancipa 
tion  of  instigating  the  slaves  to  revolt.  Take  back  the  charge 
as  a  foul  slander.  The  slaves  need  no  incentives  at  our  hands. 
They  will  find  them  in  their  stripes,  ...  in  your  speeches, 
your  conversations,  your  celebrations.1  .  .  . 

"  For  ourselves,  we  are  horror-struck  at  the  late  tidings.  We 
have  exerted  our  utmost  efforts  to  avert  the  calamity.  We 
have  warned  our  countrymen  of  the  danger  of  persisting  in 
their  unrighteous  conduct.  We  have  preached  to  the  slaves  the 
pacific  precepts  of  Jesus  Christ.  We  have  appealed  to  Chris 
tians,  philanthropists  and  patriots  for  their  assistance  to 
accomplish  the  great  work  of  national  redemption  through  the 
agency  of  moral  power  —  of  public  opinion  —  of  individual 
duty.  How  have  we  been  received  ?  We  have  been  threatened, 
proscribed,  vilified  and  imprisoned  —  a  laughing-stock  and  a 
reproach.  .  .  .  IMMEDIATE  EMANCIPATION !  .  .  .  " 

In  December  the  prison  confessions  of  Nat  Turner  were 

printed  in   Baltimore  in   an  edition  of  fifty  thousand 

Lib.  i :  202.    copies,   whereupon   Mr.  Garrison   advises   "  the    Grand 

Juries  in  the  several  slave  States  to  indict  Mr.  Gray  [the 

recipient  of  the   confessions]  and  the  printers  of  the 

l  Just  a  fortnight  after  the  Southampton  rising  there  was  a  "consecra 
tion  "  of  Polish  standards  in  Faneuil  Hall,  the  Eev.  Dr.  Beecher  making 
the  "consecrating"  prayer — "a  successfully  ridiculous  farce,"  as  it  ap 
peared  to  the  editor  of  the  Liberator,  who  "observed  in  the  immense 
multitude  a  considerable  number  of  persons  of  color,  .  .  .  apt  learners 
of  the  art  of  war  and  the  glory  of  dying  in  defence  of  liberty"  (Lib.l:  151). 


^T. 26.]  "THE  LIBERATOR."  251 

pamphlet  forthwith ;  and  the  legislative  bodies  to  offer  a  CHAP.VIII. 
large  reward  for  their  apprehension."  He  also  points  1831. 
out  that  it  does  not  appear  that  Turner,  who  could  both 
read  and  write,  "  ever  saw  a  copy  of  the  i  infernal  Lib 
erator'  or  of  'Walker's  Pamphlet."7  A  great  marvel 
remained  to  be  noticed  :  a  Quaker  petition,  "  praying  for  Lib.  i :  207. 
some  attention  to  the  evils  of  slavery ,"  was  received  and 
respectfully  referred  in  the  Virginia  Legislature;  and 
the  Richmond  Whig,  using  a  liberty  of  speech  only 
too  short-lived,  announced  in  December  that  "  The 
question  of  remote  and  gradual  abolition  is  under 
the  consideration  of  the  General  Assembly.  Circum 
stances  have  subdued  the  morbid  sensitiveness  which 
disallowed  even  a  public  allusion  to  the  topic.  Public 
opinion  can  now  act  out  its  wishes  "  in  regard  to  uan  evil 
which  all  men  confess  to  be  the  sorest  which  ever  a 
nation  groaned  under."  In  its  ardor,  the  Whig  could 
even  imagine  the  day  when  this  subject  was  taken  up 
for  discussion  being  celebrated  by  posterity  like  another 
Fourth  of  July. 

The  Virginia  debates  of  1831-2,  which,  unlike  those  at 
the   close   of  the  year  1800   concerning   Gabriel's  con 
spiracy,  were  public,  had,  indeed,  all  the  marvellousness 
of  a  sudden  utterance  by  a  dumb  man  —  who  never  lisps   NUes'Regis- 
again  !     Copious  extracts  from  them  occur  in  the  second   J^  ^'373! 
volume  of  the  Liberator.    The  fair  promise  of  the  resolu 
tion  reported  by  Mr.  Faulkner  to  the  House  of  Delegates, 
favoring  a  scheme  of  gradual  emancipation  with  compen-     Lib.  2 : 7. 
sation  —  which   Mr.  Garrison  ironically  held  up  as  an 
"  incendiary  procedure  "  —  was  unfulfilled.     In  vain  Mr. 
Moore  spoke  of  slavery  as  a  "  curse  "  —  "  the  heaviest     Lib.  2.  -.  17. 
calamity  which  has  ever  befallen   any  portion  of  the 
human  race " ;    of  its  "  irresistible  tendency    ...    to 
undermine  and  destroy  everything  like  virtue  and  mo 
rality  in  the  community " ;    of  its  disastrous  effects  on 
the  general  prosperity  by  making  agriculture  degrading 
for  the  whites  ;  of  its  check  upon  population,  its  danger 
in  case  of  invasion.     In  vain  did  the  Richmond  Enquirer 


252 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON. 


.  26. 


Lib.  2 : 19. 


Niles  Regis 
ter,  Jan.  14, 

1832, 
pp.  368-9. 


Lib.  2 : 18.  endorse  the  speech,  and  the  Whig  ask  :  "  What  is  the 
question  of  who  shall  be  President  —  of  Banks,  of  Roads 
and  Canals,  of  Tariffs l  —  to  this  ? "  The  Select  'Committee 
reported  it  inexpedient  to  make  any  legislative  enact 
ments  at  present,  but  declared  the  removal  of  the  free 
blacks  the  first  step  to  be  taken.  The  debates  have 
ended,  said  Mr.  Garrison,  "precisely  as  we  have  ex 
pected —  in  a  refusal  to  act  upon  any  proposition  for.  the 
gradual  emancipation  of  the  slaves,  and  in  a  recom 
mendation  to  expel  the  free  colored  population  from  the 
South."  The  gain  lay  in  those  admissions  on  the 'part  of 
slaveholders  which  could  never  be  obliterated.  Many  of 
the  speeches  were  "  as  inflammatory  and  dangerous  as 
any  remarks  ever  published  in  the  Liberator.  Query—1 
Where  is  the  Columbia  Vigilance  Association  ?  where 
the  Legislature  of  Georgia  ?  where  the  Grand  Jury  of 
North  Carolina?  Incendiaries  are  multiplying  rapidly 
—  why  do  they  pause  ?  Let  them  magnify  their  rewards 
and  multiply  their  indictments  !  If  our  humble  persons 
be  worth  kidnapping,  surely  the  Legislature  of  Virginia 
is  a  more  valuable  prey." 

The  same  Mr.  Broadnax  who  boldly  asked  :  "  Is  there 
one  man  in  Virginia  who  does  not  lament  that  there  was 
ever  a  slave  in  the  State  ? "  reported  a  measure  to  effect 
the  compulsory  removal  of  the  free  and  freed  blacks  by 
means  of  annual  appropriations.2  He  was  reputed  one 
of  the  pillars  of  the  Colonization  Society,  and  nothing 
could  have  been  more  gratifying  to  thattbody  than  the 
impulse  in  the  border  free  as  well  as  in  t^e  slave  States, 

Register,      after  the  Virginia  rising,  to  get  rid  of  the  free  colored 


Lib.  2:18, 
23- 


Lib.  i :  167, 

197,  199; 
2  : 19,  26,  34, 

35-  59-  6o- 


1  So  the  Whig  :   "  But  for  its  [slavery's]  existence,  we  should  never  have 
heard  a  murmur  against  the  tariff.    ...    It  is  not  a  political,  but  a  moral, 
cause,  which  is  at  the  bottom  of  Southern  decline "  (Quoted,  and  heartily 
endorsed,  by  Niles  in  his  Register,  Feb.  18,  1832,  p.  445,  and  reaffirmed  in 
Register,  42:61). 

2  This  bill  passed  the  House  (Niles'  Register,  41 : 472),  but  failed  to  pass  in 
the  Senate  (ibid.,  42: 78),  on  the  ground  of  its  interfering  with  the  arrange 
ment  for  slave  representation  between  the  eastern  and  western  sections  of 
the  State  (cf.  ante,  p.  154). 


\ 


26.] 


"THE  LIBEEATOK." 


253 


population.  In  their  fifteenth  annual  report  (1832)  they 
speak  of  the  "  great  movements  "  then  going  on  in  Mary 
land  and  Virginia,  and  continue  :  "  Indeed,  the  whole 
American  community  appears  to  be  awakened,  as  by  one 
powerful  spirit,  to  the  consideration  and  adoption  of 
measures  for  the  more  complete  accomplishment  of  the 
great  objects  of  the  American  Colonization  Society." 
The  spirit  was  worth  more  to  them  than  the  stringent 
and  persecuting  legislation,  which  was  nugatory  when 
passed.  It  was  the  spirit  which  everywhere  at  the 
North,  either  by  statute  or  by  custom,  denied  to  a  dark 
skin  civil,  social  and  educational  equality  —  which  in 
Boston  forbade  any  merchant  or  respectable  mechanic 
to  take  a  colored  apprentice ;  kept  the  colored  people  out 
of  most  public  conveyances,  and  permitted  any  common 
carrier  by  land  or  sea,  on  the  objections  of  a  white  pas 
senger,  to  violate  his  contract  with  a  "  nigger,"  however 
cultivated  or  refined ;  in  Park-Street  Church  (March, 
1830)  forbade  the  black  owner  (the  accidental  black 
owner)  of  a  pew  on  the  lower  floor  to  occupy  it,  and 
actually  took  possession  of  it  and  let  it  (the  deacons 
being  reenforced  by  a  constable),  and  in  all  the  churches 
provided  negro  pews  in  remote  corners  of  the  building.1 
"I  never,"  says  Mr.  Garrison,  "can  look  up  to  these 
wretched  retreats  for  my  colored  brethren  without  feel 
ing  my  soul  overwhelmed  with  emotions  of  shame,  indig 
nation,  and  sorrow "  ;  and  almost  he  believes  "  that  in 
Boston  we  have  merely  the  form  of  religious  worship, 
without  the  substance."  Even  in  towns,  like  the  Quaker 
New  Bedford,  where  pupils  of  both  colors  were  admitted 
to  the  public  schools,  "  the  black  boys  were  seated  by 
themselves,  and  the  white  offenders  were  punished  by 
being  obliged  to  sit  with  them."  In  a  word,  the  free 


CHAP.  VIII. 

1831. 
Lib.  2 : 63. 


Lib.  i :  69. 


Lib.  i :  ii, 

199  ;  2 :  109, 

127 ;  3  :  123, 

172,  207. 

Lib.  i :  65  ; 
AbdysJour- 

nal  of  a 

Residence  in 

U.  S., 

i :  133- 

Lib.  i :  81. 


Congdpris 
Reminiscen 
ces  of  a  Jour 
nalist,  p.  38. 


lln  the  old  Baptist  meeting-house  at  Hartford,  Conn.,  the  negro  pews 
were  boarded  up  in  front,  so  that  only  peep-holes  gave  an  outlook  (Lib. 
1:129);  truly  a  " human  menagerie"  (Lib.  1:87).  In  Stoughton,  Mass., 
the  floor  was  cut  from  under  a  colored  member's  pew  by  the  church 
authorities  (Mrs.  Child's  'Oasis,'  p.  54). 


254 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKKISON. 


.  26. 


CHAP. VIII. 
1831. 

Lib.  i :  10, 5. 


Lib.  i :  26. 


Lib.  i :  7. 


Act  of  June 

22,  1786. 


Lib.  i :  35  ; 

Niles' Regis 
ter,  41  :  448. 


colored  people  were  looked  upon  as  an  inferior  caste,  to 
whom  their  liberty  was  a  curse,  and  their  lot  worse  than 
that  of  the  slaves,  with  this  difference  —  that  while  the 
latter  were  kept  in  bondage  "  for  their  own  good/7  it 
would  have  been  very  wicked  to  enslave  the  former  for 
their  good.1 

To  aggravate  their  wretched  condition  by  fostering 
white  prejudice  was  the  manifest  policy  of  the  Coloniza 
tion  Society;  to  protest  against  and  relieve  it  was  the 
logical  beginning  of  Mr.  Garrison's  agitation  against 
slavery.  No  white  American  before  him  had  convened 
this  despised  population  to  listen  to  appeals  to  their 
manhood  and  citizenship  like  those  which  he  deliv 
ered  on  his  way  North  from  Baltimore  jail ;  or  like 
that  address  in  Boston  (December  10,  1830)  for  which 
his  grateful  hearers  pathetically  assured  him :  "  We 
cannot  sufficiently  express  our  feelings  ;  for  nothing  was 
ever  uttered  more  important  and  beneficial  to  our  color. 
Your  remarks  were  full  of  virtue  and  consolation,  perfect 
in  explanation,  and  furnished  a  rule  to  live  by  and  to  die 
by."  He  had  the  courage,  in  the  second  number  of  the 
Liberator,  to  hold  up  for  repeal  an  old  Massachusetts 
statute  imposing  a  penalty  of  fifty  pounds  for  marrying 
a  white  person  and  a  negro,  Indian  or  mulatto,  and 
declaring  all  such  marriages  u  absolutely  null  and  void.'7 
Against  insinuations  that  he  was  seeking  the  repeal  for 
his  own  benefit,  he  persisted  in  the  demand  from  week  to 
week ;  and,  before  the  close  of  the  session  of  the  Legisla- 


1  The  inhuman  treatment  of  this  class  acted,  even  more  than  slavery 
itself,  as  a  deterrent  on  Heinrich  Heine,  when  tempted  to  seek  a  home  in 
America.  His  poetic  imagination  gave  him,  on  this  subject,  a  truer  moral 
insight  than  was  to  be  found  in  pulpit  or  pew  in  the  Northern  United  States. 
In  his  letters  from  Heligoland,  under  date  of  July  1,  1830,  he  writes  :  "  Die 
eigentliche  Sklaverei,  die  in  den  meisten  nordamerikanischen  Provinzen 
abgeschafft,  empb'rt  mich  nicht  so  sehr  wie  die  Brutalitat  womit  die  freien 
Schwarzen  und  die  Mulatten  behandelt  werden.  Wer  auch  nur  im  ent- 
ferntesten  Grade  von  einem  Neger  stammt,  und  wenn  auch  nicht  mehr  in 
der  Farbe,  sondern  nur  in  der  Gesichtsbildung  eine  solche  Abstaminung 
verrath,  muss  die  grb'ssten  Krankungen  erdulden,  Krankungen  die  uns  in 
Europa  fabelhaft  diinken." 


^T. 26.]  "THE  LIBEKATOK."  255 

ture,  saw  the  prohibition  of  intermarriage  readily  aban-   CHAP.VIII. 
doned  by  the  House,  although  the  bill  was  finally  re-        ^It 
jected  on  other  grounds,  and  without  reference  to  the    £#.1:43, 
preposterous    objection  raised  in  the  press  that   "  we      47> 
have  no  right  [by  sanctioning  intermarriage  in  Massa 
chusetts]  to  interfere  with  the  internal  regulations  of 
other  States  " ! 

The  Liberator  speedily  became  the  mouthpiece  of  the 
more  intelligent  colored  people.  They  contributed  to  its 
columns  praise  of  the  editor's  opposition  to  colonization, 
comments  upon  passing  events,  reports  of  their  meetings, 
literary  essays.1  They  received  in  return  from  Mr. 
Garrison  courteous  consideration  without  patronage, 
reiterated  asseverations  of  the  encouragement  which  their 
approval  gave  him  ("  outweighing  mountains  of  abuse  Lib.  i :  43. 
from  other  sources  "),  and  the  most  practical  advice.  To 
obtain  the  peaceful  recognition  of  their  rights  they  should 
respect  themselves,  for  their  good  example  must  break 
many  fetters  :  their  temperance,  industry,  peaceableness 
and  piety  would  prove  the  safety  of  emancipation.  They 
should  be  better  than  white  men  —  a  not  difficult  task. 
They  should  put  their  children  to  school  and  get  as 
much  education  as  possible  themselves.  They  should 
form  societies  for  moral  improvement,  and  "let  the 
women  have  theirs  —  no  cause  can  get  along  without  the 
powerful  aid  of  women's  influence."  They  should  put 
aside  jealousies,  support  each  other  in  trade-dealings, 
and  maintain  an  organization  manifested  by  an  annual 
national  convention  in  some  great  city.  Superior  to 
revenge,  they  should  maintain  their  rights  in  all  cases 
and  at  whatever  expense,  raising  a  fund  to  carry  to  the 
Supreme  Court  cases  of  unconstitutional  oppression, — 
such  as  disfranchisement  without  exemption  from  taxa- 

l  "I  am  much  pleased,"  writes  James  Forten  (MS.,  March  21,  1831)  from 
Philadelphia,  "to  see  how  all  the  people  of  color,  subscribers  to  the  Lib 
erator,  speak  in  praise  of  it.  It  has  roused  up  a  spirit  in  our  young  people 
that  had  been  slumbering  for  years,  and  we  shall  produce  writers  able  to 
vindicate  our  cause."  Mr.  Forten's  own  children,  as  well  as  himself,  wrote 
frequently  for  the  paper. 


256 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAEKISON. 


[JEr.  26. 


CHAP.VIII. 

1831. 


Address 
before  Free 

People  of 
Color,  June, 
1831,  p.  15. 


Ibid. ,  p.  16. 


tion,1  liability  to  imprisonment  as  runaways  while  travel 
ling  in  the  South  and  to  be  sold  as  slaves  for  jail  fees, 
disability  as  witnesses  against  white  criminals  at  the 
South,  restrictions  upon  their  right  of  residence  and 
removal  and  of  instruction. 

"  There  is,  my  countrymen  and  friends,  a  remedy  for  such 
injustice.  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  knows  noth 
ing  of  white  or  black  men ;  it  makes  no  invidious  distinction 
with  regard  to  the  color  or  condition  of  free  inhabitants ;  it  is 
broad  enough  to  cover  your  persons ;  it  has  power  enough  to 
vindicate  your  rights.  Thanks  be  to  God  that  we  have  such  a 
Constitution  !  Without  it,  the  liberty  of  every  man, — white  as 
well  as  colored, —  would  be  in  jeopardy.  There  it  stands,  firm 
as  the  rock  of  Gibraltar,  a  high  refuge  from  oppression." 

The  State  Laws  which  disfranchise  are  unconstitu 
tional  : 

"  I  say  that  if  they  fall  upon  the  Constitution  they  will  be 
dashed  in  pieces.  I  say  that  it  is  your  duty  to  carry  this  ques 
tion  up  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  and  have  it 
settled  forever.  You  have  everything  to  gain,  and  nothing  to 
lose,  by  the  trial.  .  .  .  Once  get  yourselves  acknowledged 
by  that  august  tribunal  as  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and 
you  may  walk  abroad  in  majesty  and  strength,  free  as  the  air 
of  heaven,  sacred  as  the  persons  of  kings." 

He  exhorted  them,  further,  wherever  they  were  allowed 
to  vote,  to  have  their  names  put  on  the  poll-list  and  to 
go  to  the  polls,  voting  for  those  friendly  to  their  cause, 
and,  if  possible,  for  intelligent  and  respectable  men  of 
their  own  color.  They  should,  besides,  exercise  con 
stantly  their  right  of  petition  —  "if  your  prayer  is  re 
fused  seven  times,  send  it  seventy  times  seven."  All 
thought  of  colonizing  themselves  as  a  people,  whether 
in  Africa,  Hayti,  Upper  Canada,  or  elsewhere,  should  be 
abandoned,  and  every  intelligent  man  won  over  by  the 

1  When,  in  consonance  with  this  advice,  the  colored  citizens  of  Provi 
dence,  R.  I.,  petitioned  to  be  exempted  from  the  tax  on  real  estate,  or 
allowed  the  suffrage  and  the  privilege  of  free  schools,  their  prayer  was 
refused,  on  the  ground  of  the  difficulty  of  telling  who  was  and  who  was  not 
colored,  which  might  lead  some  whites  to  swear  falsely !  (Lib.  1:18,  38.) 


.  26.] 


"THE  LIBEKATOR." 


257 


CHAP.  VIII. 

1831. 

Address 
before  Free 

People  of 
Color,  June, 
1831,  >.  23. 


Ibid.,  p.  g. 


Ibid., p.  7. 


Colonization  Society  be  regarded  as  a  traitor  to  their 
cause  —  not  losing  sight,  however,  of  a  just  discrimination 
among  the  supporters  of  that  Society :  "  Of  the  benevo 
lent  and  disinterested  intentions  of  many  individuals, 
especially  in  the  free  States,  we  ought  not  to  doubt." 
They  should  sustain  according  to  their  means  the  peri 
odicals  devoted  to  their  cause,  and  multiply  those  con 
ducted  by  colored  men.  "I  speak  on  this  subject 
pointedly,  not  with  any  selfish  feelings,  but  because  I 
know  that  without  the  powerful  energies  of  the  press 
every  cause  must  languish."  Finally,  "  Make  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  your  refuge  and  exemplar.  ...  If  ever 
there  were  a  people  who  needed  the  consolations  of  re 
ligion  to  sustain  them  in  their  grievous  afflictions,  you 
are  that  people."  Acting  upon  the  recommendation  of 
the  General  Convention  of  Colored  Delegates  in  Phila 
delphia,  they  should  observe  the  Fourth  of  July  as  a  day 
of  fasting  and  prayer  in  all  their  churches.  "  Prayer  will 
forward  the  work  faster  than  all  the  pens  in  the  land : 
we  can  do  nothing  without  it." 

He  cheered  them  with  the  assertion  that  the  progress 
of  their  cause  was  a  part  of  the  "signs  of  the  times," 
in  harmony  with  the  French  and  Belgian  revolutions  of 
the  previous  year,  the  actual  Polish  uprising,  the  agita 
tion  over  the  Reform  Bill  in  England,  the  "  rise  in 
elevation  "  of  their  brethren  "in  the  Danish,  Portuguese, 
French  and  British  Colonies."  "  The  whole  firmament  is 
tremulous  with  an  excess  of  light." 

"  I  believe,  as  firmly  as  I  do  my  own  existence,  that  the  time  Ibid.,  p.  4. 
is  not  far  distant  when  you  and  the  trampled  slaves  will  all  be 
free  —  free  in  the  spirit  as  well  as  in  the  letter  —  and  enjoy  the 
same  rights  in  this  country  as  other  citizens.  Every  one  of  you 
shall  sit  under  your  own  vine  and  fig-tree,  and  none  shall  mo 
lest  or  make  you  afraid." 

"  I  lose  sight  of  your  present  situation,  and  look  at  it  only  in  ibid., p.  13. 
futurity.  I  imagine  myself  surrounded  by  educated  men  of 
color,  the  Websters,  and  Clays,  and  Hamiltons,  and  Dwights, 
and  Edwardses  of  the  day.  I  listen  to  their  voice  as  Judges,  and 
Representatives,  and  Rulers  of  the  people — the  whole  people." 
VOL.  I.— 17 


Ibid.,  pp.  4, 
9,  18. 


258 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKKISON. 


[.E-r.  26. 


Address  "  I  do  not  despair  of  seeing  the  time  when  our  State  and  Na- 
bep0e'op£fof  ti°nal  Assemblies  will  contain  a  fair  proportion  of  colored 
Color,  June,  representatives." * 

1831,  p.  16. 

Behind  this  prophecy  was  Mr.  Garrison's  dedication  of 
himself  to  the  redemption  of  the  blacks  : 

Ibid.,  p.  3.  "  I  never,"  he  says,  in  the  beginning  of  the  '  Address  to  the 
Free  People  of  Color,'  from  which  we  have  been  chiefly  quot 
ing,  "  I  never  rise  to  address  a  colored  audience  without  feeling 
ashamed  of  my  own  color ;  ashamed  of  being  identified  with  a 
race  of  men  who  have  done  you  so  much  injustice,  and  who  yet 
retain  so  large  a  portion  of  your  brethren  in  servile  chains.  To 
make  atonement,  in  part,  for  this  conduct,  I  have  solemnly 
dedicated  my  health,  and  strength,  and  life,  to  your  service. 
I  love  to  plan  and  to  work  for  your  social,  intellectual,  political, 
and  spiritual  advancement.  My  happiness  is  augmented  with 
yours  :  in  your  sufferings  I  participate. 

"  Henceforth  I  am  ready  on  all  days,  on  all  convenient  occa 
sions,  in  all  suitable  places,  before  any  sect  or  party,  at  whatever 
perils  to  my  person,  character,  or  interest,  to  plead  the  cause  of 
my  colored  countrymen  in  particular,  and  of  human  rights  in 
general.  For  this  purpose,  there  is  no  day  too  holy,  no  place 
improper,  no  body  of  men  too  inconsiderable  to  address.  For 
this  purpose  I  ask  no  church  to  grant  me  authority  to  speak  — 
I  require  no  ordination  —  I  am  not  careful  to  consult  Martin 
Luther,  or  John  Calvin,  or  His  Holiness  the  Pope.  It  is  a  duty 
which,  as  a  lover  of  justice,  I  am  bound  to  execute ;  as  a  lover 
of  my  fellow-men,  I  ought  not  to  shun ;  as  a  lover  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  of  his  equalizing,  republican  and  benevolent  precepts,  I  re 
joice  to  meet." 

Lib.  i :  191.  Small  wonder  that  there  were  some  who  took  Mr.  Gar 
rison  for  a  black  man.  For  those  who  knew  the  con- 
trarjr,  he  had  these  words  in  the  Introduction  to  the 
pamphlet  edition  of  the  Address  : 

"It  is  not  probable  that  I  shall  be  able  to  satisfy  the  great 
body  of  the  people  of  my  own  color  otherwise  than  by  entirely 
abandoning  the  cause  of  emancipation.  They  who  do  not  hesi- 

1  In  fact,  Mr.  Garrison  lived  to  see  Edwin  G.  Walker,  son  of  the  author 
of  'Walker's  Appeal,'  not  only  admitted  to  the  Suffolk  Bar  (March  Term, 
1864),  but  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Legislature  (January  Session, 
1867).  Later,  in  October,  1883,  Mr.  Walker  was  nominated  judge  of  the 
Charlestown  District  Coiirt  by  Gov.  Benjamin  F.  Butler. 


^T.  26.]  "  THE   LIBEKATOR."  259 

tate  to  call  me  a  madman,  a  fanatic,  a  disturber  of  the  peace,  a    CHAP.VIII. 

promoter  of  rebellion, —  among  other  charitable  epithets, — for         j^T.,. 

vindicating  the  rights  of  the  slaves,  will  naturally  be  offended 

if  I  presume  to  stand  up  in  behalf  of  the  free  people  of  color, 

or  to  address  them  on  a  subject  appertaining  to  their  welfare. 

I  am  determined,  nevertheless,  to  give  slaveholders  and  their 

apologists  as  much  uneasiness  as  possible.    They  shall  hear  me, 

and  of  me,  and  from  me,  in  a  tone  and  with  a  frequency  that 

shall  make  them  tremble.     There  shall  be  no  neutrals :   men 

shall  either  like  me  or  dislike  me." 

The  immediate  occasion  of  the  Address  was  a  visit  to 
Philadelphia  during  the  month  of  June,  1831,  which 
gave  Mr.  Garrison  a  temporary  rest  from  the  exhausting 
labors  of  the  printing-office.  In  that  city  the  First 
Annual  Convention  of  the  Colored  People  of  the  United 
States  had  been  called ;  and  at  the  earnest  solicitation  of 
the  Rev.  Simeon  S.  Jocelyn,  of  New  Haven,  and  of 
Arthur  Tappan  (who  characteristically  engaged  to  pay 
his  travelling  expenses),  he  gladly  consented  to  attend  it 
in  company  with  them,  in  order  to  strengthen  their  con 
templated  appeal  for  cooperation  in  a  scheme  for  estab 
lishing  a  colored  college  in  New  Haven — an  enterprise 
which  owed  its  inception  to  Mr.  Jocelyn,  and  which  had  cf-  ™lte> 
been  slumbering  for  nearly  two  years,1  though  in  the 
meantime  a  colored  primary  school  had  been  opened. 
The  proposed  college  was  to  combine  the  usual  literary 
courses  with  instruction  in  the  mechanic  arts,  agricul 
ture  and  horticulture;  and  New  Haven  was  selected 
because  of  its  existing  educational  advantages,  as  well 
as  on  account  of  its  trade  with  the  West  Indies,  in  the 
British  portion  of  which  emancipation  was  evidently  Lib.  i :  169. 
impending.  Mr.  Tappan  had  purchased  land  for  the 
proposed  building,  and  had  agreed  at  the  outset  to 
contribute  one  thousand  dollars  out  of  ten  which  the 
white  friends  of  the  institution  should  provide  ;  and  the 
Philadelphia  Convention  was  depended  upon  to  raise 
another  ten  thousand  among  the  colored  people.  No 

l  "More  than  eighteen  months  ago,"  as  Mr.  Jocelyn  wrote  in  the  letter 
of  May  28,  1831,  in  which  he  conveyed  his  invitation  to  Mr.  Garrison. 


260 


WILLIAM  LLOYD   GAEKISON. 


[JET.  26. 


Lib.  i :  98. 


Lib.  i :  169. 


Lib.  i :  151, 
154- 


Niles  Regis 
ter,  41 :  88 ; 

Life  of 
Arthur  Tap- 
pan,  pp. 
146-152. 


Thoughts  on 

Colonization, 

p.  149. 

Lib.  i :  109. 


opposition  was  dreamed  of.  Indeed,  Mr.  Garrison  wrote 
from  New  Haven  that,  thanks  to  Mr.  Jocelyn's  unselfish 
ministry  for  six  years,  in  no  place  in  the  Union  were  the 
prejudices  of  the  community  against  the  blacks  weaker ; 
and  it  was  recommended  to  the  Convention  by  himself, 
together  with  Messrs.  Jocelyn  and  Tappan,  on  the  ground 
that  its  inhabitants  were  "  friendly,  pious,  generous  and 
humane,"  and  its  laws  "  salutary  and  protecting  to  all, 
without  regard  to  complexion." 

How  much  Nat  Turner,  and  how  much  the  mere  name 
of  "  college,"  was  responsible  for  the  popular  explosion 
in  September,  can  perhaps  not  now  be  determined.1  On 
the  10th  of  that  month,  at  a  city  meeting  expressly  called 
by  the  mayor  and  aldermen,  notice  was  given  that  the 
manual-labor  college  would  not  be  tolerated  in  New 
Haven;  the  pretext  being  that  it  was  auxiliary  to  the 
agitation  against  the  municipal  institution  of  slavery, 
and  "  incompatible  with  the  prosperity  if  not  the  exist 
ence  "  of  Yale  College,  then  largely  frequented  by  South 
ern  students.  It  was  accordingly  resolved,  with  only  the 
dissenting  votes  of  Mr.  Jocelyn  and  three  other  citizens 
(one  a  Virginian),  "  by  the  Mayor,  Aldermen,  Common 
•Council,  and  Freemen  of  the  City  of  New  Haven,"  "  that 
we  will  resist  the  establishment  of  the  proposed  College 
in  this  place  by  every  lawful  means."  Before  this 
"respectable"  opposition  the  flattering  estimate  of  the 
humanity  of  the  inhabitants  fell,  together  with  all  hope 
of  making  their  city  the  seat  of  the  college. 

On  his  way  back  to  Boston  Mr.  Garrison  delivered  in 
New  Haven  ("  the  hot-bed  of  African  Colonization" )  an 
address  "  inimical  to  the  Colonization  Society,"  which  was 
officially  replied  to  immediately  after  his  departure.  At 
this  time  (July  11)  he  writes  to  his  friend  Ebenezer  Dole, 
who  had  called  upon  him  in  his  absence : 

l"We  have  touched  the  very  quick  of  oppression  simply  by  calling 
the  institution  a  College.  Our  enemies  all  over  the  country  start  at  the 
name.  Why  ?  Because  it  carries  the  assurance  of  equality  with  it.  We 
would  not  lose  the  name  on  any  account "  (MS.  Sept.  20, 1831,  S.  S.  Jocelyn 
to  W.  L.  G.) 


^ET.  26.]  "  THE   LIBERATOR."  261 

"  I  am  truly  rejoiced  to  learn  that  you  are  no  colonizationist.  MS. 
I  say  rejoiced  —  because,  after  the  most  candid  and  prayerful 
investigation,  I  am  persuaded  the  Colonization  Society  is  based 
upon  wrong  principles;  and,  as  for  its  leading  doctrines,  my 
judgment  tells  me  they  are  abhorrent.  Like  many  other  good 
people,  I  was  myself,  for  a  time,  deceived  with  regard  to  its 
character  and  tendency.  I  took  the  scheme  upon  trust ;  but  my 
eyes  are  now  open.  I  find,  wherever  I  go,  that  thorough-going 
abolitionists  do  not  support  the  Society.  Great  changes  are 
taking  place  on  this  subject.  The  Society  is  fast  losing  many 
of  its  most  worthy  supporters ;  and  by  and  by,  I  trust,  none  but 
slave-owners  will  be  found  in  its  support.  Among  those  who 
.have  left  it  is  Arthur  Tappan,  who  is  a  host  in  himself." 

In  February,  1831,  Mr.  Garrison  attended  a  meeting,  in 
the  Boston  State-house,  whose  object  was  to  form  a  State 
Colonization  Society,  but  he  was  denied  permission  to  Lib.  \  •.  27. 
speak ;  nor  did  he  meet  with  much  success  in  inviting 
the  friends  of  colonization  to  defend  it  in  the  columns  of  Lib.  i  •.  43. 
the  Liberator.  Meantime,  the  Massachusetts  Legislature 
was  induced  to  pass  resolutions  approving  the  Society,  Lib.  i :  67. 
and  favoring  the  annual  appropriation  by  Congress  of 
$240,000  to  effect  the  removal  of  the  entire  free  black 
population  in  twenty-eight  years.  Lyman  Beecher,  pastor 
of  the  Bowdoin-Street  Church  (and  Mr.  Garrison's  pastor 
if  he  had  any),  was  taking  up  Fourth  of  July  collections  Lib.  i :  m. 
for  the  Society  (whose  opponents,  he  said,  were  only  "  a 
few  foolish  whites  "),  and  advocating  colonization  on  the 
curious  ground  that  "  The  blacks  are  justly  entitled  to 
the  whole  Southern  territory;  and  how  shall  we  liqui 
date  their  claim?  By  sending  them  to  Africa" — " un 
questionably,"  as  Mr.  Garrison  remarked,  "  a  New  Way 
to  pay  Old  Debts."  Even  his  warm  and  admiring  friend 
S.  J.  May  took  alarm  at  the  Liberator's  tone  towards  a 
movement  which  seemed  at  least  "  introductory  to  more 
efficient  measures,"  and  entreated  with  him  at  length, 
saying : 1  "I  cannot  go  along  with  you  in  your  opposition 

l  MS.  March  26.  1831,  and  again,  July  18.  Mr.  May  was  then  and  for 
some  time  afterwards  a  member  of  the  Colonization  Society.  To  him  wrote 
Henry  E.  Benson,  Aug.  4,  1831:  "I  should  think  that  he  [Mr.  Garrison] 


262  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON.  [>£T.  26. 

CHAP. viii.  to  the  Colonization  Society.     You  have  gone  too  far. 

1831.        Your  language  has  been  too  severe  —  your  censures  too 

indiscriminate.     I  fear  you  have  already  injured  greatly 

the  cause."  It  was  high  time  that  a  decisive  attack  should 

Lib.  i :  65.  be  made  on  this  "  conspiracy  against  human  rights."  On 
the  30th  of  July  the  Liberator  contained  a  formal  an 
nouncement  that  the  editor  intended  to  prepare  shortly 
for  the  press  a  pamphlet  entitled  *  Thoughts  on  Coloni 
zation  ? : 

Lib.  i :  123.  "  Upon  this  pamphlet  I  shall  be  willing,"  he  said,  "  to  stake 
my  reputation  for  honesty,  prudence,  benevolence,  truth,  and 
sagaciousness.  If  I  do  not  prove  the  Colonization  spirit  to* 
be  a  creature  without  heart,  without  brains,  eyeless,  unnatural, 
hypocritical,  relentless,  unjust,  then  nothing  is  capable  of 
demonstration." 

Lib.  i :  126.  "  It  can  be  demonstrated,"  he  wrote  subsequently,  "  that  the 
Society  has  inflicted  a  great  injury  upon  the  free  and  slave 
population  j  first,  by  strengthening  the  prejudices  of  the  people 
—  secondly,  by  discouraging  the  education  of  those  who  are 
free  —  thirdly,  by  inducing  the  passage  of  severe  legislative 
enactments — and,  finally,  by  lulling  the  whole  country  into  a 
deep  sleep." 

This  demonstration,  amid  daily  cares,  could  not  be 
MS.  NOV.     hastened.     In  November,  Mr.  Garrison  succeeded  in  ob 
taining  from  Washington  complete  files  of  the  Society's 
organ,  the  African,  Repository,  to  the  study  of  which  he 
diligently  applied  himself.     He  was  also  stimulated  by 
the  receipt  from  England  of  Captain  Charles  Stuart's1 
LAt>.  i :  158.    exposure  of  the  Colonization  Society,  which  he  reprinted 
in  full.     But  his  own  publication  was  delayed  till  the 
following  year.     In  the   interval   his   denunciations   in 

paid  little  regard  to  the  seven  pages  you  wrote  him  in  regard  to  African 
colonization,  by  the  perusal  of  three  or  four  of  his  last  numbers  ;  'for  his 
opposition  grows  stronger,  he  says,  the  more  he  reflects  upon  it."  And 
again,  Sept.  2,  after  a  visit  to  Boston:  "Mr.  Garrison  says  he  shall  write 
you  soon,  and  has  no  doubt  that,  as  you  are  such  an  unprejudiced  man,  he 
shall  soon  make  you  a  convert  to  his  views  of  the  Colonization  Society." 

i  A  retired  officer,  on  half -pay,  formerly  in  the  East  India  service,  styled 
by  James  Cropper  "  one  of  the  most  devoted  Christians  I  have  ever  known" 
(monthly  Abolitionist,  p.  40). 


JET. 26.]  "THE  LIBEKATOK."  263 

the  Liberator  observed  their  usual  frequency  and  meas 
ure.  "  In  attacking  the  principles,  and  exposing  the  evil  Lib.  i :  65. 
tendency,  of  the  Society,  we  wish  no  one  to  understand 
us  as  saying  that  all  its  friends  are  equally  guilty,  or 
actuated  by  the  same  motives.  Nor  let  him  suppose  that 
we  exonerate  any  of  them  from  reprehension."  When 
it  was  reported  that  certain  persons,  in  a  distant  part  of 
the  State,  scrupled  to  subscribe  for  the  liberator  because 
they  favored  gradual  emancipation  with  transportation 
to  Liberia,  " We  are  glad  to  learn/'  he  said,  "that  some  Lib.  1:117. 
have  even  a  perverted  conscience  in  that  place ;  for  on 
the  subject  of  slavery  we  feared  they  had  none  at  all." 

The  Quaker  mode  of  extinguishing  slavery  by  abstain 
ing  from  its  products  still  commended  itself  to  Mr. 
Garrison.  "  The  free  States,"  he  says,  in  the  second  Lib.  i :  5. 
number  of  the  Liberator,  "  receive  and  consume  the  pro 
ductions  of  slave  labor!  The  District  of  Columbia  is 
national  property ;  slavery  exists  in  that  District !  Yet 
the  free  States  are  not  involved  in  the  guilt  of  slavery ! " 
In  subsequent  discussions  of  the  subject  he  urged  that 
the  receiver  was  as  bad  as  the  thief ;  that  "  a  merchant  Lib.  i :  66. 
who  loads  his  vessel  with  the  proceeds  of  slavery,  does 
nearly  as  much  at  helping  forward  the  slave  trade  as  he 
that  loads  his  vessel  in  Africa  with  slaves."  Slaves  are 
held  in  bondage  "  because  they  are  profitable  to  their 
owners,"  and  the  reasons  for  giving  up  the  use  of  what 
they  produce  "  affect  the  very  existence  of  slavery —  none  Lib.  i  -.  29. 
can  possibly  be  more  solemn  and  conclusive.  The  people 
of  New  England  are  daily  fastening  new  and  heavier 
fetters  upon  the  slaves,  and  putting  an  immense  bribe 
into  the  hands  of  the  planters,  by  consuming  those  arti 
cles  which  have  been  raised  at  the  expense  of  the  bodies 
and  souls  of  two  millions  of  their  fellow-beings."  "En 
tire  abstinence  from  the  products  of  slavery  is  the  duty  of  Lib.  i :  121. 
every  individual."  He  desired  the  multiplication  of  free- 
produce  societies  to  "  strike  at  the  root  of  slavery,"  and  Lib.  i :  49. 
one  of  the  objects  of  an  American  Anti-Slavery  Society 
should  be  "to  encourage  planters  to  cultivate  their  lands  Lib.  i :  121. 


264 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAEEISON. 


.  26. 


Lib.  i :  173. 


Lib.  i  : 


CHAP. viii.  by  freemen,  offering  large  premiums.7'  He  commended 
1831.  to  the  patronage  of  abolitionists  the  free  groceries  of 
Charles  Collins,  in  New  York,  and  of  Lydia  White,1  in 
Philadelphia,  and  allowed  C.  Peirce,  of  the  latter  city, 
to  advertise  that  orders  on  his  grocery  would  be  gladly 
received  at  the  office  of  the  Liberator,  and  the  goods 
procured  without  extra  charge.  Logically  there  seemed 
no  flaw  in  the  argument  based  on  the  half-truth  that 
slaves  are  kept  because  they  are  profitable ;  practically, 
Mr.  Garrison  regarded  the  free-produce  movement  as 
only  a  subordinate  instrumentality.  All  appeals  to  the 
Northern  conscience  were  blows  at  "  the  root  of  slavery/7 
and  he  welcomed  this  among  others.  He  never  proposed 
to  make  it  his  sole  weapon,  and  in  time  it  came  to  seem 
to  him  one  of  the  least  effective. 

A  dim  prefiguring  of  the  axe  whose  strokes  were  to 
make  the  tree  tremble  to  its  crown,  is  to  be  found  in  the 
first  volume  of  the  Liberator.  Mr.  Garrison  had  a  per 
fectly  just  understanding  of  the  pro-slavery  guarantees 
of  the  United  States  Constitution,  and  of  the  powers  of 
the  Federal  Government  over  the  institution  of  slavery. 
His  incessant  demand  for  emancipation  in  the  District 

Lib.  i  •.  207.  of  Columbia,  which  he  was  amazed  that  John  Quincy 
Adams,  then  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 

Lib.i-.-L2.-L.  should  refuse  to  countenance;  his  proposal  to  agitate 
for  the  abrogation  of  the  slave-representation  clause  of 
the  Constitution ;  his  conviction  that  the  Constitution 
had  only  to  be  invoked  through  the  Supreme  Court  to 
secure  the  free  people  of  color  against  the  oppressive 
enactments  of  the  Southern  States ;  his  mention,  with 
only  moral  censure,  of  the  employment  of  Federal 
troops  to  suppress  slave  insurrections  at  the  South — all 
show  his  strict  construction  of  rights  and  obligations 
under  the  law  of  the  land,  for  reformers  as  well  as  for 

l  Prom  a  letter  of  Lydia  White's  of  May  9,  1831  (partly  printed  in  Lib. 
1  :  87),  it  would  appear  that  Mr.  Garrison  was  desirous  to  clothe  himself 
with  free-labor  fabrics.  See,  also,  Lib.  1 :  93.  Part  of  the  severe  plainness 
of  fare  of  the  partners  while  living  in  Merchants'  Hall  was  due  to  a  con 
scientious  abstinence  from  coffee  and  sugar  at  least,  as  slave-labor  products. 


Lib.  i :  66, 

and  passim. 


Lib.  i  :  34. 


^T.  26.]  "  THE  LIBEEATOK."  265 

the  oppressed.     From  time  to  time,   nevertheless,   his   CHAP.VIII. 
vision    embraced    a    larger    view  —  partly  philosophic,        1831. 
partly  revolutionary,  but  not  unpatriotic.     In  his  second     Lib.  \  \  7. 
issue  he  notices  with  pleasure  the  failure  to  call  a  seces 
sion  convention  in  South  Carolina,  but  points  out  the 
fatal  result,  to  any  or  all  of  the  slave  States,  of  separa 
tion,  and  adds :    "  In  process  of  time,  one  thing  is  cer 
tain  :  they  must  either  give  up  their  slaves  or  the  Union. 
.     .     .     The  people  of  the  free  States    .     .     .    are  weary 
of  the  load  of  guilt  which  is  imposed  upon  them  by  the 
compact."    Months  afterwards,  as  it  appeared  to  him  :    Lib.  i :  123. 
"The  bond  of  our  Union  is  becoming  more  and  more 
brittle,  not  by  any  attempts  to  enfranchise  the  slaves, 
but  by  the  rapid,  deadly,  unobstructed  growth  of  slavery. 
It  may  be  safely  affirmed  that  unless  there  be  a  speedy 
abolition  of  the  system,  a  separation  between  the  free 
and  slave  States  will  be  unavoidable.     He  who  would  see 
our  country  united,  must  use  his  utmost  efforts  to  hasten 
the   progress  of   emancipation."    And  finally:    "If  the    Lib.  1:165. 
bodies  and  souls  of  millions  of  rational  beings  must  be 
sacrificed  as  the  price  of  the  Union,  better,  far  better, 
that  a  separation  should  take  place." 

Upon  the  religious  sentiment  of  the  country  and  the 
sacred  books  which  inspired  it,  Mr.  Garrison  hopefully 
relied  for  the  most  powerful  assistance  in  his  crusade 
against  slavery.  "  Religious  professors,  of  all  denomina-  Lib.  i :  121. 
tions,"  he  declared,  "  must  bear  unqualified  testimony 
against  slavery.  .  .  .  Consequently,  no  slaveholder 
ought  to  be  embraced  within  the  pale  of  a  Christian 
church."  Yet  he  was  well  aware  that  "  to  doubt  the  Lib.  i :  5. 
religious  vitality  of  a  church  which  is  composed  of 
slaveholders,  is  the  worst  species  of  infidelity,"  and  that 
he  must  begin  by  censuring  those  whose  support  he 
should  ultimately  win.  "-Considering  their  influence 
and  the  force  of  their  example,  undoubtedly  the  worst 
enemies  of  the  people  of  color  are  professors  of  religion." 
Let  them  be  slave-owners,  and  u  undoubtedly  the  most  Lib.  i :  1x5. 
abominable  and  surprising  spectacle  which  the  wicked- 


266  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GAKKISON.  [^ET.  26. 

CHAP. vin.  ness  of  man  presents,  in  the  sight  of  Heaven,  is  a 
1831.  reverend  slavite  preying  npon  the  lambs  of  God,  and 
trafficking  in  the  souls  of  men."  Their  delinquency 
could  not,  however,  shake  his  faith  in  the  anti-slavery 
potency  of  the  Bible.  "  The  Bible  Society  is  doing  more 
to  break  the  fetters  of  oppression  and  scatter  the  mists 
of  delusion  than  all  the  patriotic  associations  and  mili 
tary  orders  in  the  world."  Still  another  incendiary  ally 
he  found  in  the  New  York  General  Tract  Depository, 

Lib.  1 154.  which,  as  he  learned  "  with  lively  sensations  of  joy,"  had 
issued  in  October,  1830,  no  less  than  thirty  thousand 
copies  of  the  Scriptures,  most  of  which  were  intended  as 
donations  for  the  Mississippi  Vallej^ : 

"  The  cause  of  emancipation  will  receive  an  immense  benefit 
from  this  liberal  distribution  of  the  '  Word  of  Life.'  THE 
BIBLE  —THE  BIBLE  !  how  shall  we  subdue  the  obdurate  heart, 
and  awaken  the  seared  conscience,  and  successfully  impeach 
the  criminal  conduct  of  slave-owners ;  —  how  shall  we  operate 
upon  public  opinion,  and  call  into  vigorous  exercise  the  moral 
energies  of  the  nation,  and  establish  justice  throughout  our 
borders,  and  break  down  the  middle  walls  of  partition  which 
separate  man  from  his  fellow-man ;  —  how  shall  we  preach 
deliverance  to  the  captive,  and  the  opening  of  the  prison-doors 
to  them  that  are  bound,  and  transform  the  benighted  and 
suffering  slave  into  an  enlightened  and  happy  freeman,  and  the 
haughty  master  into  a  familiar  friend — how  shall  we  accomplish 
this,  and  more,  without  THE  BIBLE  ?  Human  legislation  — 
what  is  it  ?  It  is  incoherent  and  contrarious  ;  it  justifies  in  one 
state  or  country  what  it  punishes  in  another  $  it  holds  no  juris 
diction  over  the  hearts  of  men ;  it  is  capable  of  disastrous 
perversion ;  it  is  governed  by  worldly  policy  5  it  alters  with 
the  fluctuations  of  society.  Take  away  THE  BIBLE,  and  our 
warfare  with  oppression,  and  infidelity,  and  intemperance, 
and  impurity,  and  crime,  is  at  an  end:  our  weapons  are 
wrested  away  —  our  foundation  is  removed  —  we  have  no 
authority  to  speak,  and  no  courage  to  act." 

Not  less  orthodox  were  Mr.  Garrison's  views  of  fasting 

and  prayer,  to  which  he  frequently  exhorted  the  colored 

Lib.  i :  73.     people ;  and  of  the  Sabbath  and  Sabbath-schools.    He 

Lib.  i :  115.    urges  colored  parents,  "  as  they  value  the  temporal  and 


^T. 26.]  "THE  LIBERATOR."  267 

eternal  welfare  of  their  children,  to  send  them  where  they  CHAP.VIII. 
can  obtain  instruction  on  the  Sabbath."     "  If  thou  wert        j^. 
blotted  out,  our  moral  sun,"  he  says  in  a  sonnet  to  the     Lib.  i :  64. 
day,1  earth  would  "  resemble  hell."    With  the  Puritan 
respect  for  Sabbath  eve  he  notices  what  he  believes  to  be 
the  first  instance  of  opening  a  ball  in  Boston  on  Saturday 
evening,  hopes  it  will  be  the  last,  and  calls  it  an  "  out-     Lib.  \  -.  47. 
rage     .     .     .     upon  the  moral  sense  of  this  community." 
In  April,  he  Remarks  with  gratification  on  the  prevailing 
"  extraordinary  excitement  on  the  subject  of  religion,"     Lib.  i :  57. 
and  the  unusual  solemnity  and  increased  attendance 
in  Boston ;  defends  revivals  against  the  charge  of  being 
"  the  wildness  of  fanaticism,"  but  holds  religious  conver 
sions  to  be  rational  occurrences,  not  requiring  "  special 
grace  or  a  miraculous  interposition  of  the  spirit "  ;  looks 
to   "  extensive  revivals  of  pure  religion "  to   save  the 
country  from   great  plagues  and  sudden  destruction ; 
asserts  that  emancipation   of  the   slaves  must  be  the 
work  of  Christianity  and  of  the  churches ;   hopes  the 
present  revival  may  prove  to  be  animated  by  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  bids  the  mourning  slaves  take  courage,  "  for 
your  redemption  is  at  hand"  ! 2    The  May  anniversaries 

1  "  What  a  most  conscientious  and  devout  '  legalist '  I  was  when  I  wrote 
it,"  he  writes  to  Oliver  Johnson,  May  25, 1874.  "In  my  blindness  I  adopted 
Dr.  Beecher's  preposterous  figure  of  speech,  as  applied  to  the  first  day  of 
the  week,  that  'the  Sabbath  is  the  moral  sun  of  the  universe,'  and  so  logi 
cally  predicted  that  chaos  would  come  again  if  it  were  blotted  out  —  i.  e., 
not  observed  in  an  orthodox  fashion  —  a  fashion,  however,  not  according  to 
Luther,  Melanchthon,  Calvin,  or  any  of  the  great  lights  of  the  Reformation, 
of  which  fact  I  was  then  ignorant."    Dr.  Beecher's  use  of  this  figure,  how 
ever,  at  Pittsburgh,  in  the  summer  of  1836,  called  forth  a  protest  from  Mr. 
Garrison  against  such  "extravagant  and  preposterous  language"   (Lib. 
6:118). 

2  To  a  multitude,  indeed,  both  before  and  behind  the  scenes,  who  con 
nected  this  deep  excitement  with  the  revolutionary  upheavals  of  the  Old 
World,  the  millennial  day  of  judgment  seemed  very  near.     An  extract 
from  the  Rev.  Lyman  Beecher's  discourse  on  the  preservation  of  the  Sab 
bath,  copied  into  the  Liberator  (1:172)  for  its  characteristic  "glowing 
eloquence  and  startling  solemnity,"  reads  like  a  fragment  of  Millerite 
oratory,  and  shows  how  the  way  was  paved  for  the  Second-Adventist  delu 
sion  of  the  next  decade.     (Compare  Goodell's  •  Slavery  and  Anti-Slavery,' 
p.  387,  and  the  prospectus  of  the  Liberator  printed  on  the  cover  of  the 
'  Thoughts  on  Colonization,'  June,  1832.) 


268  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GABBISON.  [^T.  26. 


of  this  memorable  revival  year  were  peculiarly  refreshing 

Lib.  i  :  87.  to  Mr.  Garrison.  "  It  has  been,"  he  writes,  "  the  happiest 
week  of  our  existence.  We  cannot  discriminate  between 
the  excellence  and  importance  of  the  different  societies  : 
every  one  of  them  was  the  best.  Only  one  thing  was  want 
ing  —  the  anniversary  of  a  National  Anti-Slavery  Society. 
Such  a  society  must  be  organized  forthwith."  Worthy 
of  special  praise  seemed  the  Rev.  Leonard  Wellington's 
election  sermon,  "  an  apology  for  the  clergy,  and  a  de 
fence  of  their  character."  On  the  Fourth  of  July  he 

Lib.  i:m.  attended  the  celebration  at  Park-Street  Church,  his  feel 
ings  outraged  by  the  sight  of  colored  boys  restricted  to 
pews  one-quarter  way  up  the  side-aisle,  while  the  girls 
were  kept  near  the  door  as  usual  ;  and  his  reason  offended 
by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Wisner's  specious  attempt  to  prove  that 
infant  sprinkling  was  baptism. 

u  You  are,"  wrote  a  gentleman  from  the  District  of 

Lib.  1:33.  Columbia  to  Mr.  Garrison,  "not  only  breaking  the  chains 
of  the  black  slave,  but  also  of  the  white  slave."  As 
this  latter  effect  was  incidental  to  the  former,  so  the 
Liberators  warfare  upon  slavery  was  an  incident,  if  the 
main  one,  in  the  universal  philanthropy  of  its  editor. 
"  Human  rights  in  general,"  to  use  his  own  phrase,  com 
manded  his  services  at  all  seasons;  and  all  his  earlier 
testimonies  were  renewed  in  the  Liberator.  His  feelings 
on  the  subject  of  intemperance  were  scarcely  surpassed 

Lib.  1:9.  in  intensity  by  those  in  regard  to  slavery.  He  looked 
upon  "  every  distiller  or  vender  of  ardent  spirits  "  as 
"  a  poisoner  of  the  health  and  morals  of  community  "  ; 
and  could  even  say,  in  his  address  in  1832  before  the 
second  annual  Convention  of  the  People  of  Color  in 
Lib.  2  :  101.  Philadelphia  :  "  God  is  my  witness  that,  great  as  is  my 
detestation  of  slavery  and  the  foreign  slave  trade,  I  had 
rather  be  a  slaveholder  —  yea,  a  kidnapper  on  the  African 
coast  —  than  sell  this  poison  to  my  fellow-creatures  for 
common  consumption.  Since  the  creation  of  the  world 
there  has  been  no  tyrant  like  INTEMPERANCE,  and  no 


^T.  26.]  "  THE   LIBEKATOK."  269 

slaves  so  cruelly  treated  as  his."1    Abhorring  war,  he  CHAP.VIII. 
declared  his  belief  that  "  every  man  who  kills  another,        I^I. 
either  in  a  duel  or  battle,  is,  in  the  eye  of  God,  guilty 
of  his  blood."   He  had  scruples,  over  and  above  the  prior 
claims  of  the   slaves,  against  publishing  an  appeal   to 
raise  money  in   aid   of   the   revolted  Poles :    "  Ours  is    Lib.  i :  75. 
the  patriotism  of  Jesus  Christ,  not  of  this  world.     We 
justify  no  war.     The  victories  of  liberty  should  be  blood 
less,  and   effected   solely  by   spiritual  weapons.     If  we 
deemed  it  pleasing  in  the  sight  of  God  to  kill  tyrants,  we 
would  immediately  put  ourselves  at  the  head  of  a  black 
army  at  the  South,  and  scatter  devastation  and  death  on 
every  side."    For,  "  surely  if  a  man  can  be  justified  in    LM.  1:113. 
fighting  for  a  foreign  people  —  the  Greeks  and  Poles,  for 
example  —  how  much  more  can  he  be  justified  in  fighting 
for  his  own  brethren  !     Yet  I  am  for  leaving  vengeance 
to  God."    Nevertheless,  when,  as  in  Hayti,  "the  battle    Lib.  1:127. 
for  liberty  is  begun,  we   pray  that  the   injured  party 
may  in  all  cases  be  victorious."    Not  yet  had  Mr.  Gar 
rison  carried  his  peace  doctrine  so  far  as  to  disfranchise     Lib.  1:55, 
himself  rather  than,   by  voting,   to   sustain   a   govern 
ment  resting  on  force.     Capital  punishment  he  naturally     Lib.  i :  63. 
held  to  be  "unauthorized."    The  penitentiary  "should     Lib.  1:7. 
become  a  place  of  just  yet  merciful  correction,  and  gf 
the  means   of  moral   reform."     We   see  him   attending 
a  public  meeting  in   Faneuil   Hall,   presided   over  by 
Mayor  Otis,  and  addressed  by  the  Rev.  John  Pierpont, 
for  the   abolishment   of    imprisonment   for   debt ;    and     Lib.  i :  23. 
leaving  it  with  a  poem2  running  in  his  head  "to  illus-     Lib.  1:28. 
trate  the  barbarity  of  a  system  which,  as  far  as  it  goes, 
is  scarcely  surpassed  by  African  slavery" — the   differ 
ence  being  that  the  people  had  the  remedy  in  their     Lib.  i :  6. 
own  hands. 

1  At  the  Rev.  Moses  Thacher's  lectures  on  Intemperance  in  Park-Street 
Church,  in  August,  Mr.  Garrison  "joined  most  heartily  in  the  anathema" 
pronounced  on  "the  use  of  tobacco,  either  in  chewing,  smoking,  or  snuff 
ing"  (Lib.  1:  135). 

2  "  The  Poor  Debtor" ;  poetically  estimated,  not  above  the  mediocrity  of 
occasional  verse. 


270  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON. 

It  was  both  as  an  abolitionist  and  as  a  Christian  that 
Niies  Regis-    Mr.  Garrison  reported  with  indignation  the  successive 
1 831,^460!    details  of  the  brutal  treatment  of  the  white  missionaries 
Lib.  i :  112,    among  the  Cherokees,  who  had  been  ordered  by  the  State 
127,  i  7-      Q£  Georgia  t0  leave  a  Territory  over  which  it  had  no  juris 
diction —  arrested — chained  like  runaway  slaves  to  the 
horses  of  their  guards  —  and  imprisoned  at  hard  labor  for 
four  years.     But  he  could  ask,  on  reading  the  comments 
of  the  religious  press,  North  and  South,  "  Has  the  '  mad 
man  Garrison '  ever  committed  himself  in  the  use  of 
stronger  invective  against  the  oppressors  of  the  slaves 
than  appears  in  the  following  language?    His  insanity  is 
really  growing  contagious,  and  fanatics  are  multiplying 
on   every   side ! "     With  the   Cherokees  themselves,   of 
course,  in  their  hopeless  struggle  with  a  rapacious  oligar 
chy,  he  was  no  less  in  sympathy  than  with  the  mission 
aries.1     Charity  for  the  Indians  was  then  and  has  ever 
since  been  a  conspicuous  element  of  Boston  philanthropy. 
When  John  Ridge,  the  Cherokee  chief,  came  to  that  city 
in  March,  1832,  to  present  the  grievances  of  his  people, 
the  Old  South  was  thrown  open  to  him,  Leverett  Sal- 
tonstall  spoke  from  the  same  pulpit,  and  Mr.  Picker 
ing  2  announced  the  latest  intelligence,  that  the  Supreme 
NUes* Regis-   Court  had  decided  the  law   under  which  the  mission- 
r>4o.'2'      aries  had   been   imprisoned    to   be   unconstitutional  — 
news  which  Mr.  Garrison,  as  an  eye-witness,  says  was 
Lib.  2 : 39.     "  received  with  the  most  enthusiastic  applause.     Indeed, 
it  may  safely  be  affirmed  that  no  event  since  the  organ 
ization  of  the  government,   except  perhaps  the  treaty 
1815-        of    peace,   has   created   a   livelier  sensation   of  joy  in 
Boston  and  its  vicinity  than  this  decision  of  the  Su 
preme  Court."    But  joy  was  soon  drowned  by  Georgia's 

1  See,  again,  the  trampled  Indian  treaties  in  the  pictorial  heading  of  the 
Liberator. 

2  John,  son  of  Colonel  Timothy  Pickering,  and  an  eminent  lawyer  and 
scholar,  then  the  city  solicitor.     In  1836  he  published  '  Remarks  on  the  In 
dian  Languages  of  North  America.' 


^ET. 26.]  "THE  LIBEKATOK."  271 

nullification  of  the  decision,  with  President  Jackson's  CHAP.VIII. 
tacit  approval.1  I8jI. 

Mr.  Garrison's  anti-masonic  views  had  undergone  no 
change  :  he  was  still  "  utterly  and  irreconcilably  opposed  Lib.  i :  83. 
to  the  institution  of  masonry."  But  he  had  a  ready 
touchstone  for  pro-slavery  anti-masons  who  prated  of 
the  anti-republican  tendencies  of  secret  orders.  For  him 
self  he  needed  neither  signs  nor  grips  to  recognize  the 
claims  of  a  fellow-being  in  distress :  his  countrymen 
were  mankind,  his  philanthropy  could  not  be  less  broad. 
His  patriotism  was  yet  real  and  intense  ;  his  love  of  his 
native  New  England  ingrained.  "Tyrants  and  slaves  Lib.  1:165. 
may  exist  at  the  South,  but  they  are  unknown  in  New 
England.  i  Doughfaces 7  we  have  among  us, 

and  men  lost  to  every  honorable  feeling  —  time-servers, 
apologists,  traitors,  and  cowards ;  but  think  not,"  he 
warns  the  editors  of  the  National  Intelligencer,  "  that  the 
great  body  of  the  descendants  of  the  Pilgrims  sanction 
Southern  oppression."  The  abuse  of  a  South  Carolina 
journal  he  meets  by  holding  up  the  editor  as  "  a  renegade  Lib.  1:9. 
from  New  England,  who  also  advocates  the  rebellious 
doctrine  of  nullification."  When  informed  that  "the 
late  Judge  Lowell,2  who  was  born  in  Newburyport,  was 
the  first  individual  in  Massachusetts  who  freed  a  slave," 
"  this  fact,"  he  says,  speaking  both  for  himself  and  for 
his  partner,  "is  peculiarly  gratifying  to  us,  being  our-  Lib.\-.z\. 
selves  natives  of  the  same  place." 

l"One  Indian  hanged,  some  missionaries  imprisoned,  the  writ  of  the 
Supreme  Court  disregarded,  the  Indians  removed :  and  the  political  and 
pseudo-philanthropic  intermeddlers  left  to  the  reflection  of  having  done 
much  mischief,  in  assuming  to  become  the  defenders  and  guardians  of  a 
race  which  the  humanity  of  our  laws  and  people  were  treating  with  parental 
kindness  "  (Ben ton,  '  Thirty  Years'  View,'  1 : 166). 

2  John  Lowell,  the  grandfather  of  the  poet.  This  humane  jurist,  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1780,  is  the  reputed  author  of  the 
clause  in  the  Massachusetts  Bill  of  Rights — "All  men  are  born  free  and 
equal,"  etc. — which  was  designed  to  abolish  slavery,  and  did  in  fact;  and 
he  offered  his  services  gratuitously  to  any  slave  wishing  to  claim  his  free 
dom  under  it. 


272 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GABKISON. 


CHAP.VHI. 

1831. 
Lib.  i :  95. 


Lib.  i :  146. 


Lib.  i :  43  ; 

Writings  of 

W.  L.G., 

p.  283. 


Lib.  i :  139. 


Of  jealousy  or  a  selfish  love  of  notoriety  in  the  anti- 
slavery  cause  the  first  volume  of  the  Liberator  shows  no 
trace.  Mr.  Garrison  publishes  the  prospectus  of  the 
Genius  after  its  removal  to  Washington ;  likewise,  with 
special  approval,  the  prospectus  of  the  African  Sentinel, 
to  be  published  at  Albany  by  John  G.  Stewart,  a  colored 
man,  for  which  he  subsequently  offers  to  act  as  agent.1 
"  To  Benjamin  Lundy,  the  veteran  advocate  of  negro 
emancipation,"  he  dedicates  this  sonnet : 

Self-taught,  unaided,  poor,  reviled,  contemned — 

Beset  with  enemies,  by  friends  betrayed; 
As  madman  and  fanatic  oft  condemned, 

Yet  in  thy  noble  cause  still  undismayed ! 
Leonidas  thy  courage  could  not  boast  j 

Less  numerous  were  his  foes,  his  band  more  strong  5 
Alone,  unto  a  more  than  Persian  host, 

Thou  hast  undauntedly  given  battle  long. 
Nor  shalt  thou  singly  wage  th'  unequal  strife ; 

Unto  thy  aid,  with  spear  and  shield,  I  rush, 
And  freely  do  I  offer  up  my  life, 

And  bid  my  heart's  blood  find  a  wound  to  gush! 
New  volunteers  are  trooping  to  the  field  — 
To  die  we  are  prepared — but  not  an  inch  to  yield! 

Of  Isaac  Knapp  he  speaks  in  these  terms  : 

11 1  am  pleased  to  have  an  opportunity  of  bestowing  a  well- 
deserved  eulogy  upon  my  partner  in  business.  He  is  willing, 
for  the  love  of  the  cause,  to  go  through  evil  as  well  as  good  re 
port  j  to  endure  privation,  and  abuse,  and  the  loss  of  friends,  so 
that  he  can  put  tyrants  to  shame  and  break  the  fetters  of  the 
slaves.  He  has  been  of  essential  service  to  me ;  and  his  loss 
would  not  be  easily  made  up."2 

1  Lundy  and  Stewart  in  turn  acted  as  agents  for  the  Liberator  (Lib.  1 : 73, 
145,  etc.) 

2  This  testimony  is  repeated  in  a  letter  of  March  1,  1874,  to  Oliver  John 
son  :  "  From  the  beginning  to  the  close  of  our  partnership  he  [Knapp]  had 
the  management  of  the  finances,  making  all  contracts  with  the   paper- 
makers,  and  seeing  all  liabilities  discharged.     ...     In  this  respect,  par 
ticularly,  he  was  essential  to  the  success  of  our  undertaking,  and  deserves 
honorable  remembrance.     He  never  flinched,  and  never  once  grew  dis 
heartened." 


.  26.] 


"THE   LIBERATOR." 


273 


In  reviewing  at  its  close  the  busy,  eventful  year,  Mr.  CHAP.VIII. 
Garrison  could  look  back  on  a  flattering  increase  in  the  I8jI. 
subscription  list  of  the  Liberator,  with  a  prospect  of  en 
larging  the  paper  with  the  new  volume  j  on  the  sale  of 
three  editions  of  his  l  Address  to  the  People  of  Color >  in 
two  months ;  and  on  a  thousand  evidences  of  the  effect 
of  his  writings,  his  public  discourse  and  his  daily  conver 
sation  on  the  friends  and  the  foes  of  human  freedom.  His 
office  was  a  rendezvous  to  which  came  men  of  all  grades 
and  professions  —  fellow-editors  like  David  Lee  Child,1 
John  G.  Whittier,2  William  J.  Snelling,3  Moses  Thacher,4 
and  Oliver  Johnson  ;5  lawyers  like  Samuel  E.  Sewall 
("a  man  full  of  estimable  qualities")  and  Ellis  Gray 
Loring;  schoolmasters  like  "the  Lynn  bard"  Alonzo 
Lewis,  and  Joshua  Coffin;  the  Quaker  hatter,  Arnold 
Buffum  ;  "  the  distinguished  advocate  of  peace,"  William 
Ladd  5  from  Maine,  the  generous  merchant,  Ebenezer 
Dole  5  from  Rhode  Island,  the  young  wool-dealer,  George 
William  Benson ;  from  Connecticut,  the  Kev.  Samuel  J. 
May,  whose  genial  sympathy  and  bold  support  had  won 
Mr.  Garrison's  instant  affection,  so  that  in  the  second 
number  of  the  Liberator  appeared  this  tribute  to  one 
then  unnamed  : 


AfS.  Feb. 
14,  1831. 


Lib.  i :  39. 


Friend  of  mankind!   for  thee  I  fondly  cherish 
Th'  exuberance  of  a  brother's  glowing  love ; 

And  never  in  my  memory  shall  perish 

Thy  name  or  worth — so  time  shall  truly  prove! 

l  Massachusetts  Journal  and  Tribune,  Boston  ;  2  New-England  Weekly  Re 
view,  Hartford,  as  George  D.  Prentice's  successor ;  3  The  Amateur,  Boston ; 
4  The  Boston  Telegraph ;  5  The  Christian  Soldier,  Boston,  printed  on  the 
Liberator  press.  These  editors,  again,  were  lawyers,  ministers,  and  littera 
teurs.  Oliver  Johnson,  who  was  four  years  younger  than  Mr.  Garrison, 
was  a  native  of  Peacham,  Vt.,  of  Massachusetts  parentage.  He  became  an 
apprentice  in  the  office  of  the  Vermont  Watchman,  at  Montpelier,  where  he 
read  the  Journal  of  the  Times.  Already,  July  4, 1828,  he  had  delivered  in  that 
town  an  address  against  slavery,  from  the  colonization  point  of  view.  Like 
Mr.  Garrison,  he  strove  as  early  as  possible  to  edit  a  paper  of  his  own,  and 
the  first  number  of  his  Christian  Soldier  was  issued  in  Boston  within  a  week 
of  the  first  number  of  the  Liberator.  It  opposed  the  rising  "  heresy  "  of  Uni- 
versalism. 

VOL.  L— 18 


Lib.  1:6; 
Writings  of 
W.  L.  G., 

p.  200. 


274  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON.  [^T.  26. 


CHAP.  VIII.  Thy  spirit  is  more  gentle  than  a  dove, 

I~i  Yet  hath  an  angel's  energy  and  scope  } 

Its  flight  is  towering  as  the  heaven  above, 
And  with  the  outstretched  earth  doth  bravely  cope. 
Thou  standest  on  an  eminence  so  high 

All  nations  congregate  around  its  base; 
There,  with  a  kindling  soul  and  piercing  eye, 

The  wrongs  and  sufferings  of  thy  kind  dost  trace  : 
Thy  country  is  the  world  —  thou  know'st  no  other  — 
And  every  man,  in  every  clime,  thy  brother  ! 

No  friendship,  indeed,  was  to  prove  more  pure  or  more 
lasting  ;  and  none  had  a  greater  influence  on  Mr.  Garri 
son's  life.  In  the  twenty-eighth  number  of  the  Libera 
tor  appeared  among  the  list  of  agents  the  name  of  Henry 
Egbert  Benson,  of  Providence,  R.  I.  He  was  the  younger 
brother  of  the  Mr.  Benson  mentioned  above,  and  it  was 
MS.  July  at  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  May,  then  the  Unitarian  pastor  of 
the  Connecticut  village  of  Brooklyn,  in  which  their  father 
resided,  that  Mr.  Garrison  inserted  Henry  Egbert's  name, 
MS.  July  and  immediately  wrote  to  beg  his  acceptance  of  the  com- 
3°.  1831.  missiOIL  Mr.  Benson  needed  no  urging,  for  he  had 
already  interested  himself  in  the  success  of  the  paper. 
The  time  was  coming  when  that  interest  would  be  some 
thing  more  than  philanthropic,  and  more  than  friendly 
—  even  brotherly.  To  him  Mr.  Garrison  writes,  under 
date  of  Boston,  August  29,  1831  : 

MS.  "  I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  taking  your  brother  by  the  hand, 

and  of  holding  an  interesting  tete-d-tete  with  him  on  the  subject 
of  slavery.  My  only  regret  is,  on  account  of  his  short  tarry, 
which  has  prevented  me  from  paying  him  that  attention  which 
would  be  desirable.  He  is,  I  am  glad  to  find,  sound  in  the  faith, 
not  having  in  the  least  degenerated  from  his  parent  stock. 
Would  to  Heaven  there  were  a  host  of  such  men  enlisted  in  the 
glorious  cause  of  universal  emancipation  !  But  we  shall  muster 
an  army,  by  and  by.  The  cause  of  freedom  is  onward  ;  and  the 
day  is  not  far  distant,  I  trust,  when  a  black  skin  will  not  be 
merely  endurable,  but  popular.  For,  be  assured,  favors  are  to  be 
heaped,  in  due  time,  upon  our  colored  countrymen,  as  thickly 
as  have  been  sorrow  and  abuse.  I  have  no  despondency  —  no 
doubt  :  the  triumph  of  truth  is  as  sure  as  the  light  of  heaven. 


.  26.  J 


THE   LIBEKATOR." 


2.75 


1831. 


Henry  E. 

Benson. 

MS. 


"  I  wish  that  the  colored  people  of  Providence,  if  they  feel  on  CHAP.VIII. 
the  subject  as  their  brethren  do  elsewhere  —  and  I  presume 
they  do  —  would  immediately  call  a  public  meeting,  and  ex 
press  their  disapprobation  of  the  colonization  scheme.  Safety 
and  self-respect  require  this  measure  at  their  hands.  Now  is 
the  time  for  the  people  of  color  to  act  —  fearlessly,  firmly, 
understandingly." l 

Again,  to  the  same,  October  19 : 

"  Permit  me  to  introduce  to  you  my  worthy  friend,  Mr. 
Joshua  Coffin,  whom  you  will  find  an  agreeable  and  intelligent 
person.  He  is  a  warm  friend  of  the  anti-slavery  cause,  and  has 
correct  views  relative  to  the  Colonization  Society.  He  is  about 
opening  a  school  in  this  city  for  the  instruction  of  free  colored 
persons,  and  I  have  no  doubt  will  be  very  successful.  .  .  . 

"  The  disturbances  at  the  South  still  continue.  The  Liberator 
is  causing  the  most  extraordinary  movements  in  the  slave  States 
among  the  whites,  as  you  are  doubtless  already  aware.  I  am 
constantly  receiving  anonymous  letters,  filled  with  abominable 
and  bloody  sentiments.  These  trouble  me  less  than  the  wind. 
I  never  was  so  happy  and  confident  in  my  mind  as  at  the  present 
time.  The  slaveholders  are  evidently  given  over  to  destruction. 
They  are  determined  to  shut  out  the  light  —  to  hear  none  of 
the  appeals  of  justice  and  humanity.  I  shudder  when  I  con 
template  their  fate." 

To  the  same,  November  12  : 

"  You  may  soon  expect  to  hear  of  the  formation  of  an  anti- 
slavery  society  in  this  city,  on  principles  steadfast  as  the  pillars  of 
truth.  There  are  some  stanch  abolitionists  here  who  are  ready  for 
action,  and  whom  no  dangers  or  scoffs  can  frighten.  We  can  do 
comparatively  little  without  a  concentration  of  moral  strength. 
With  physical  force  we  have,  you  know,  nothing  to  do." 

We  close  this  chapter,  whose  expansion  will  not  appear 
excessive  to  those  who  pursue  this  narrative  to  the  end, 
with  an  episode  which  belongs  here,  so  far  as  its  date 
caii  now  be  defined.  In  an  editorial  notice  of  Parton's 
1  Life  of  Aaron  Burr,7  in  the  Liberator  of  January  8, 
1858,  occurs  the  following  passage  : 

"  It  is  certainly  to  his  [Burr's]  credit  that,  while  he  was  a 
member  of  the  New  York  Legislature  in  1784,  a  bill  having 

1  The  meeting  was  held  on  Oct.  31.  (See  "  A  Voice  from  Providence  "  in 
Lib.  1:178.) 


Henry  E. 

Benson. 

MS. 


Lib.  28 : 6. 


276  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON.  [^£T.  26. 


CHAP.  VIII.   been  introduced  for  the  gradual  abolition  of  slavery  in  that 

I^~l          State,  '  he  was  in  favor  of  a  speedier  extinction  of  the  anomaly, 

and  moved  to  amend  the  bill  so  as  to  totally  abolish  slavery 

after  a  certain  day.'     His  amendment  having  been  rejected,  he 

voted  for  the  original  bill,  which  was  lost. 

"  Probably,"  continues  Mr.  Garrison,  "  it  was  his  last  effort 
in  that  direction  ;  for,  in  1831-2,  —  I  cannot  now  determine  the 
precise  date,  but  not  long  after  the  publication  of  the  Liberator 
was  commenced,  —  Aaron  Burr  visited  Boston,  and  sent  me  a 
special  request  to  have  an  interview  with  him  at  the  Marlboro' 
Hotel.  Curious  to  see  so  noted  a  man,  and  especially  to  know 
what  could  be  his  object  in  soliciting  an  acquaintance,  I  at 
once  complied  with  his  request,  and  had  a  free  conversation 
with  him  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  He  received  me  with  the 
suavity  and  politeness  for  which  he  was  so  remarkable,  and 
with  great  adroitness  undertook  to  dissuade  me  from  prosecut 
ing  the  anti-slavery  cause,  and  continuing  to  publish  the  Liber 
ator  —  skilfully  setting  forth  the  hopelessness  of  my  object,  the 
perils  to  which  I  should  be  subjected,  the  dangers  of  a  general 
emancipation  of  the  slaves,  the  power  and  spirit  of  the  slave 
oligarchy,  etc.,  etc.  His  manner  was  patronizing,  and,  with  his 
strong  and  plausible  representations  of  the  dangers  and  diffi 
culties  in  the  case,  well  calculated  to  make  a  deep  impression 
on  my  then  youthful  mind.  He  had  a  remarkable  eye,  more 
penetrating,  more  fascinating  than  any  I  had  ever  seen,  while 
his  appearance  was  truly  venerable.  But  he  was  baffled  in  his 
purpose,  and  soon  found  that  he  was  dealing  with  one  who 
occupied  a  very  different  plane  from  his  own  ;  whose  trust  was 
not  in  man,  but  in  the  living  God  j  who  was  not  to  be  intimi 
dated  or  discouraged  by  any  portrayal  of  consequences,  whether 
real  or  imaginary  ;  who  was  animated  by  a  love  of  impartial 
liberty,  and  could  not  stoop  to  any  considerations  of  worldly 
policy.  As  he  revealed  himself  to  my  moral  sense,  I  saw  that 
he  was  destitute  of  any  fixed  principles,  and  that  unyielding 
obedience  to  the  higher  law  was  regarded  by  him  as  credulity 
or  fanaticism.  Yet  I  do  not  remember  that  he  undertook  to 
argue  the  rightfulness  of  slavery  —  his  aim  being,  rather,  to 
convince  me  both  of  the  folly  and  danger  of  attempting  to 
struggle  with  the  Slave  Power  for  its  overthrow. 

"  We  parted  —  he  courteous  and  plausible  to  the  last,  and  I 
firm  and  uncompromising  —  and  we  never  met  again.  What 
other  object  brought  him  to  Boston,  I  could  not  learn  :  the  next 
day,  he  returned  to  New  York." 


CHAPTER  IX. 

ORGANIZATION:  NEW-ENGLAND  ANTI-SLAVERY  SOCIETY. — 
THOUGHTS  ON  COLONIZATION. — 1832. 


r  1 1HE  first  step  towards  the  formation  of  an   anti-    CHAP.  ix. 


-L  slavery  society  in  accordance  with  the  doctrines 
advocated  by  the  Liberator  was  taken  in  Boston  on 
Sunday,  November  13,  1831,  when  fifteen  persons  assem 
bled  in  Mr.  SewalPs  office  on  State  Street,  on  the  under 
standing  "  that  if  the  apostolic  number  of  twelve  should 
be  found  ready  to  unite  upon  the  principles  that  should  be 
thought  vital,  and  in  a  plan  of  operations  deemed  wise 
and  expedient,"  an  association  should  then  and  there  be 
organized.  Among  them  were  Mr.  May  and  Mr.  Oliver 
Johnson,  who  have  both  given  an  account  of  the  pro 
ceedings.  Mr.  Garrison  took  the  initiative,  by  describing 
"  what  the  Abolitionists  of  Great  Britain  had  done, 
since,  under  the  inspiration  of  Elizabeth  Heyrick,  they 
had  put  their  movement  on  the  ground  of  immediate,  in 
distinction  from  gradual,  emancipation.  He  wanted 
societies  formed  in  America  upon  the  same  principle, 
and  could  not  be  satisfied  with  any  scheme  of  gradual 
ism."  For  two  hours  the  question  was  discussed,  not 
whether  immediate  emancipation  was  right  and  safe, 
but  whether  on  the  one  hand  popular  prejudice  would 
not  be  unduly  excited,  and  on  the  other  the  friends  of 
gradual  emancipation  be  repelled  from  the  new  society, 
by  its  positive  committal  to  immediatism.  uMr.  Gar 
rison  was  firm  in  the  conviction  that  the  vitality  of  the 
movement  depended  upon  a  frank  avowal  of  funda 
mental  principles,  however  unpopular  they  might  be; 

277 


1832. 


Johnson's 
Garrison, 

pp.  82-89; 

May's  Rec 
ollections, 

PP-  30-32- 


278  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAEEISON.  [^T.  27. 


CHAP.  ix.    and  the  vote  upon  the  question  showed  that  nine  were  in 
1832.       favor  of  organizing  upon  his  plan,  while  six  were  op 
posed."  Mr.  May  was  consequently  obliged  to  return  home 
without  witnessing  the  completion  of  the  organization. 

Nevertheless  the  attempt  was  not  abandoned.  On 
Friday,  December  16,  another  meeting  was  held  at  the 
same  place,  with  ten  present,1  and,  "  after  considerable 
discussion,  David  Lee  Child,  Samuel  E.  Sewall,  William 
Lloyd  Garrison,  Ellis  Gray  Loring,  and  Oliver  Johnson 
were  appointed  a  committee  to  draft  a  constitution  for  an 
Anti-Slavery  Society,  to  be  reported  January  1,  1832." 
Then  for  the  first  time  Mr,  Garrison  gave  public  intima- 

Lib.  i  :  201.  tion  of  the  movement,  and,  in  the  Liberator  of  the  follow 
ing  day,  called  for  the  names  of  those  who  were  ready  to 
join  it.  On  Sunday  evening,  the  first  of  January,  1832, 
the  draft  of  the  constitution  was  reported  to  a  meeting 
containing  some  new  faces  ;  among  them,  Alonzo  Lewis, 
William  Joseph  Snelling,  Dr.  Gamaliel  Bradford,2  Dr. 
Abner  Phelps,  and  the  Rev.  Abijah  Blanchard,  editor 
of  an  anti-masonic  religious  paper,  who  opened  the 
meeting  with  prayer.  The  body  of  the  constitution  was 
adopted,  "  with  a  few  unimportant  alterations  and  addi 
tions,"  as  the  records  read,  but  also  with  one  highly  sig 
nificant  of  the  conservative  influences  against  which  Mr. 
Garrison,  had  had  to  contend  in  committee  :  "  Voted, 
that  '  Philo-Af  rican  '  be  struck  out  [of  the  first  article, 
denoting  the  Society's  title],  and  '  New-England  Anti- 
Slavery7  be  substituted."  The  choice  marked  the  domi 
nance  of  the  same  positive  and  aggressive  spirit  that  put 
the  Liberator  and  not  the  Safety-Lamp  at  the  head  of  the 
movement  for  immediate  emancipation.  The  preamble 
was  referred  for  revision  to  another  committee,3  to  be 

1  Namely,  according  to  the  records,  David  Lee  Child,  Ellis  Gray  Loring, 
Isaac  Child,  W.  L.  Garrison,  Robert  Bernard  Hall,  John  Cutts  Smith, 
Oliver  Johnson,  Isaac  Knapp,  Joshua  Coffin,  and  Samuel  E.  Sewall. 

2  Dr.  Bradford  was  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College  (1814),  and  from  1833 
to  the  close  of  his  life  in  1839  was  Superintendent  of  the  Massachusetts 
General  Hospital. 

3  Consisting  of  Messrs.  Sewall,  Garrison,  Blanchard,  and  Snelling. 


^ET.  27.]  OKGANIZATION.  279 

reported  to   an  adjourned  meeting  appointed  for  the    CHAP.  ix. 
evening  of  Friday,  January  6,  in  the  school-room  under       ^3. 
the  African  Baptist  Church,  in  Belknap  Street. 

"  Of  that  adjourned  meeting,7'  says  Mr.  Johnson,  "  my 
recollections  are  very  vivid.  A  fierce  northeast  storm, 
combining  snow,  rain  and  hail  in  about  equal  propor 
tions,  was  raging,  and  the  streets  were  full  of  slush. 
They  were  dark,  too,  for  the  city  of  Boston  in  those  days 
was  very  economical  of  light  on  i  Nigger  Hill.7 1  It  almost 
seemed  as  if  Nature  was  frowning  upon  the  new  effort  to 
abolish  slavery.  But  the  spirits  of  the  little  company 
rose  superior  to  all  external  circumstances.77 

Mr.  Child  presided,  and  the  preamble,  as  drawn  by 
Mr.  Snelling,  was  read  as  follows : 

"We,  the  undersigned,  hold  that  every  person,  of  full  age  Lib.  2:25. 
and  sane  mind,  has  a  right  to  immediate  freedom  from  personal 
bondage  of  whatsoever  kind,  unless  imposed  by  the  sentence  of 
the  law,  for  the  commission  of  some  crime.  We  hold  that  man 
cannot,  consistently  with  reason,  religion,  and  the  eternal  and 
immutable  principles  of  justice,  be  the  property  of  man.  We 
hold  that  whoever  retains  his  fellow -man  in  bondage  is  guilty 
of  a  grievous  wrong.  We  hold  that  a  mere  difference  of  com 
plexion  is  no  reason  why  any  man  should  be  deprived  of  any 
of  his  natural  rights,  or  subjected  to  any  political  disability. 
While  we  advance  these  opinions  as  the  principles  on  which 
we  intend  to  act,  we  declare  that  we  will  not  operate  on  the 
existing  relations  of  society  by  other  than  peaceful  and  lawful 
a  means,  and  that  we  will  give  no  countenance  to  violence  or 
insurrection.77 

This  declaration  manifestly  disregarded  the  point  of 
expediency  raised  at  the  first  meeting,  which  was  again 
the  cause  of  much  earnest  discussion  without  unanimity     Lib.  5 : 3. 
being  reached ;  Messrs.  Child,  Loring  and  Sewall  with 
holding  their  signatures  from  the  perfected  instrument.2 

1  The  north  side  of  Beacon  Hill,  and  the  colored  settlement  of  Boston 
par  excellence. 

2  Their  scruples  could  not  long  keep  them  aloof  from  a  work  in  which 
their  hearts  were  enlisted.     At  the  monthly  meeting  in  July,  Mr.  Sewall 
was  appointed  one  of  the  Board  of  Managers  to  take  the  place  of  Mr.  John 
Stimson,  in  August  to  succeed  Mr.  John  S.  Williams  as  Treasurer ;  and  at 


280 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAEKISON. 


CHAP.  IX, 
1832. 


Johnson '  s 

Garrison, 

p.  88. 


The  twelve  persons,  all  white,  who  accepted  the  preamble 
and  affixed  their  names,  were  William  Lloyd  Garrison, 
Oliver  Johnson,  Robert  B.  Hall,  Arnold  Buffum,  William 
J.  Snelling,  John  E.  Fuller,  Moses  Thacher,  Joshua 
Coffin,  Stillman  B.  Newcomb,  Benjamin  C.  Bacon,  Isaac 
Knapp,  and  Henry  K.  Stockton1  —  not  more  than  one  or 
two  of  whom,  says  Mr.  Johnson,  "  could  have  put  a  hun 
dred  dollars  into  the  treasury  without  bankrupting 
themselves,"  whereas  two  at  least  of  those  not  in  perfect 
accord  with  them  had  hitherto  been  the  pecuniary  main 
stay  of  the  Liberator.  What,  however,  must  have  seemed 
most  discouraging  to  Mr.  Garrison  was  his  failure,  after 
a  year  of  argument  in  public  and  in  private,  to  convince 
his  truest  and  most  necessary  friends  of  the  high  expe 
diency  of  immediatism.  Nevertheless,  "  as  the  little 
company  .  .  .  were  stepping  out  into  the  storm  and 
darkness  from  the  African  school-house  where  their  work 
was  accomplished,  Mr.  Garrison  impressively  remarked : 
4  We  have  met  to-night  in  this  obscure  school-house  $  our 
numbers  are  few  and  our  influence  limited ;  but,  mark 
my  prediction,  Faneuil  Hall  shall  ere  long  echo  with  the 
principles  we  have  set  forth.  We  shall  shake  the  Nation 
by  their  mighty  power.' " 

the  annual  meeting  in  January,  1833,  to  succeed  Mr.  Garrison  as  Corre 
sponding  Secretary,  while  Messrs.  Child  and  Loring  were  elected  Coun 
sellors.  Mr.  Sewall,  however,  only  became  a  life  member  (by  the  payment 
of  $15)  in  November,  1833  (Lib.  3:187). 

l  Of  these  only  three  were  natives  of  Boston  (Lib.  7: 53).  Five  at  least 
were  still  living  in  1874,  namely,  Messrs.  Garrison,  Johnson,  Fuller, 
Thacher,  and  Bacon  (MS.  Feb.  1,  1874,  W.  L.  G.  to  O.  Johnson,  remark 
ing  on  the  longevity  of  the  " apostles").  All  but  Mr.  Johnson  had  died 
when  Mr.  Garrison  passed  away.  From  a  later  letter,  Feb.  24,  1874,  the 
following  tributes  are  extracted.  Of  Benjamin  C.  Bacon  :  "You  remember 
how  early,  faithfully,  yet  unobtrusively,  he  espoused  the  anti-slavery 
movement  in  Boston,  and  what  excellent  service  he  rendered  as  office- 
agent  and  secretary  of  the  Anti-Slavery  Depository.  Ever  of  a  meek  and 
quiet  spirit,  not  all  the  pro-slavery  tumult  of  those  times  could  disturb  his 
serenity  for  a  moment.  He  was  equally  serviceable  to  our  cause  after  his 
removal  to  Philadelphia,  and  well  appreciated  by  our  friends  and  co-workers 
in  that  city."  Of  Moses  Thacher:  "He  rendered  important  service  and 
deserves  honorable  mention."  Every  one  of  the  twelve  was  strongly  Ortho 
dox,  while  the  three  dissenters  were  Unitarians  by  conviction  or  affiliation. 
They  were  also  the  only  lawyers. 


^ET.  27.]  ORGANIZATION.  281 

The  first  publication  of  the  Constitution  of  the  New- 
England  Anti-Slavery  Society  was  made  in  the  Liberator    Lib.  2  •.  25. 
of  February  18,  1832,  together  with  a  list  of  officers  (in 
cluding  Arnold  Buffum,1  President,  Joshua  Coffin,  Secre 
tary,  and  W.  L.  Garrison,  Corresponding  Secretary),  and 
an  expository  Address  from  the  pen  of  the  Rev.  Moses    Lib.  2:43. 
Thacher,  one  of  the  Counsellors.    The  second  article  of 
the  Constitution  was  as  follows : 

"  The  objects  of  the  Society  shall  be  to  endeavor,  by  all  means 
sanctioned  by  law,  humanity  and  religion,  to  effect  the  aboli 
tion  of  slavery  in  the  United  States,  to  improve  the  character 
and  condition  of  the  free  people  of  color,  to  inform  and  correct 
public  opinion  in  relation  to  their  situation  and  rights,  and 
obtain  for  them  equal  civil  and  political  rights  and  privileges 
with  the  whites." 

Regular  meetings  were  provided  for  on  the  last  Monday 
of  every  month,2  and  an  annual  meeting  on  the  second 
Wednesday  in  January;  and  the  Board  of  Managers  were 
authorized  to  appoint  agents  to  be  employed  in  any  part 
of  the  United  States,  "  in  obtaining  or  communicating 
intelligence,  in  the  publication  or  distribution  of  tracts, 
books  or  papers,  or  in  the  execution  of  any  measure  which 
may  be  adopted  to  promote  the  objects  of  the  Society." 
Auxiliary  societies  contributing  to  its  funds,  and  sending 
delegates  to  its  meetings,  would  be  recognized  in  any  part 
of  New  England.  The  Address  was  occupied  with  a  de-  •. 

1  Arnold  Buffum,  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  son  of  a 
member  of  the  Providence  Society  for  Promoting  the  Abolition  of  Slavery 
(Lib.  3: 138),  was  a  native  of  Smithfield,  R.  L,  where  he  was  born  in  1782. 
In  1824  he  visited  England,  and  there  made  the  acquaintance  of  Clarkson 
and  the  leading  abolitionists  of  his  own  sect.  He  made  a  second  anti-slavery 
visit  to  England  in  April,  1843,  when  a  clerical  fellow-passenger  described 
him  as  "  an  Old  Hickory  Quaker  Abolitionist,"  a  "  tall,  gray-headed,  gold- 
spectacled  patriarch"  (' Life  of  Dr.  Wm.  A.  Muhlenberg,'  p.  163).  He  died 
March  13,  1859,  See  p.  94  of  '  Proceedings  of  the  American  Anti-Slavery 
Society  at  its  Third  Decade,  1863.'  Mr.  Buffum  possessed  much  mechanical 
ingenuity,  which  he  applied  in  the  line  of  his  business — the  manufacture  < 

of  hats  —  and  otherwise,  and  had  dreams  of  liberally  endowing  the  caiise 
from  his  profits  (MS.  Mar.  27,  1835,  Henry  E.  to  Geo.  W.  Benson). 

2 May  28,  1832,  "Voted,  that  hereafter  meetings  of  the  Society  shall  be 
opened  by  prayer." 


282  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON. 

CHAP.  ix.    fence  of  the  doctrine  of  immediate  emancipation,  and,  as 
1832.        a  corollary,  with  a  denunciation  of  the  aims  and  methods 
of  the  Colonization  Society ;  and  concluded  with  a  warn 
ing  to  those  who  would  temporize  with  slavery,  of  the 
danger  of  slave  insurrections. 

Of  the  seventy-two  names  appended,  mostly  in  auto 
graph,  to  the  Constitution  in  the  Society's  records, 
perhaps  a  quarter  were  those  of  colored  men,  some  of 
whom  were  barely  able  to  write^  The  local  membership 
was  at  the  outset  considerably  smaller  than  the  total  just 
given.  Such  was  the  body  pitted  against  the  American 
Colonization  Society,  against  (as  events  proved)  the 
American  Church,  against  the  American  Union.  Its  first 
action,  at  a  meeting  held  in  the  Liberator  office,  was  to 
instruct  the  Board  of  Managers  to  memorialize  Congress 
for  the  abolition  of  slavery  "  in  the  District  of  Columbia 
and  in  the  Territories  of  the  United  States  under  their 
jurisdiction,"  and  to  begin  the  work  of  popular  agitation 
by  preparing  the  Address  above  cited  and  procuring  the 
delivery  of  another  by  its  president,  Arnold  Buffum.  In 
due  course  it  had  standing  committees  to  assist  in  plac 
ing  colored  lads  at  trades,  and  to  endeavor  to  get  colored 
children  into  the  public  schools ;  to  improve  the  existing 
schools  for  colored  children  and  to  build  up  others  ;  and 
to  inquire  into  all  cases  of  inhabitants  of  New  England 
who  might  be  kidnapped,  and  take  the  necessary  steps 
to  procure  their  liberation  at  the  Society's  expense.1  It 

Ante, p.  254.  considered  a  memorial  for  the  repeal  of  §  7  of  the  Act  of 
1786,  prohibiting  the  intermarriage  of  blacks  and  whites ; 
sought  to  find  support  for  a  free-produce  grocery  in 
Boston ;  and  resolved  to  undertake  to  raise  $50,000 
toward  establishing  a  manual-labor  school  for  colored 
youth,  through  solicitations  "  both  in  England  and 

Lib.  -2  •.  155.    America."    Mr.  Garrison's  motions,  as  preserved  in  the 

l  See,  for  an  account  of  the  Society's  suit  for  the  freedom  of  Francisco 
before  Judge  Shaw,  Lib.  2 : 194.  Mr.  Sewall  acted  as  the  Society's  counsel ; 
and  the  anti-kidnapping  committee,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  was  doubt 
less  formed  on  his  motion. 


JEi.  27.] 


OKGANIZATION. 


283 


1832. 


records,  looked  to  the  preparation  for  the  annual  meet-  CHAP.  ix. 
ing  in  1833  of  reports  on  the  foreign  and  domestic  slave 
trade,  on  colonization,  on  the  condition  of  t^e  free  people 
of  color  at  large,  on  slavery  in  the  United  States  and  in 
the  District ;  and  to  the  despatch  of  an  agent  through  the 
New  England  towns  to  deliver  addresses  and  make  col 
lections  on  behalf  of  the  Society.  By  his  motion,  too, 
Wilberf  orce  and  Clarkson  were  elected  honorary  members 
of  the  Society.  On  several  of  the  important  committees 
already  enumerated,  and  on  others  pertaining  to  practical 
management  and  efficient  propagandism,  his  name  is  to 
be  found ;  and  when  the  Society,  which  had  begun  by 
declaring  the  Liberator  its  official  organ,  towards  the 
close  of  the  year  concluded  that  a  monthly  publication 
would  better  serve  that  purpose,  he  was  one  of  three 
nominated  by  the  Board  to  superintend  the  publication 
of  it.  In  these  and  in  other  ways  to  be  considered  pres 
ently,  he  helped  justify  the  Society's  declaration  in  the 
first  number  of  the  Abolitionist,  that,  "  probably,  through 
its  instrumentality,  more  public  addresses  on  the  subject 
of  slavery,  and  appeals  in  behalf  of  the  contemned  free 
people  of  color,  have  been  made  in  New  England,  during 
the  past  year  [1832],  than  were  elicited  for  forty  years 
prior  to  its  organization." 

At  the  monthly  meeting  in  May,  Mr.  Garrison  was  ap 
pointed  a  delegate  to  represent  the  Society  at  the  second 
annual  Convention  of  the  People  of  Color,  to  be  held  in 
Philadelphia  during  the  next  fortnight;  and  having 
accepted  an  invitation  to  be  the  guest  of  Eobert  Purvis l 
during  his  stay  in  that  city,  he  set  out  on  the  first  of 
June,  leaving  his  paper  in  the  friendly  charge  of  Messrs. 
Lewis  and  Coffin.  His  part  in  the  Convention  consisted 
chiefly  in  opposition  to  colonization;  Mr.  Gurley,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Colonization  Society,  having  made  a 
speech  on  the  second  day,  to  which  Mr.  Garrison  made  Lib.  -2  \  150. 
an  immediate  and  effective  rejoinder.  Fragments  of  an 
address  which  the  latter  delivered  at  the  close  of  the  Con- 


P.  2. 


MS.  May 
30,  1832'. 

Alonzo 
Lewis, 
Joshua 
Coffin. 


l  A  son-in-law  of  James  Forteu. 


284  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAEKISON.  [Mr.  27. 

Lib.  2  -.  101.    vention  were  published  by  request  in  the  Liberator.     The 
strain  was  singularly  solemn,  fervent,  and  hopeful. 
His  social  experience  was  memorable : 

MS.  June  "  I  have  had,"  he  writes  to  Ebenezer  Dole,  il  a  most  delight- 
29,  1832.  ful  ^ft  to  Philadelphia.  .  .  .  The  delegates  were  generally 
men  of  large,  sound  sense  and  quick  discernment  —  some  of 
them  able  debaters,  and  all  animated  by  a  kindling,  towering 
spirit  of  improvement.  The  people  of  color  now  begin  to  hope 
for  a  better  state  of  things:  this  hope  is  filling  their  breasts 
with  motives  to  exertion,  and  the  consequence  is,  they  are 
rising  fast  in  moral  and  literary  improvement.  I  sincerely 
wish  you  had  been  at  the  Convention.  I  wish  you  had  been 
with  me  in  Philadelphia,  to  see  what  I  saw,  to  hear  what  I 
heard,  and  to  experience  what  I  felt,  in  associating  with  many 
colored  families.  There  are  colored  men  and  women,  young 
men  and  young  ladies,  in  that  city,  who  have  few  superiors  in 
refinement,  in  moral  worth,  and  in  all  that  makes  the  human 
character  worthy  of  admiration  and  praise." 

And  to   Mr.   Purvis   himself  he   writes,  immediately 
upon  his  return  home  : 

MS.  June  "  The  very  generous  and  unremitted  exertions  made  by 
22,  i  32.  vourseif  an(j  your  accomplished  lady,  to  promote  my  happiness 
and  comfort  during  my  residence  in  Philadelphia,  have  left  an 
indelible  impression  upon  my  memory,  and  opened  in  my 
breast  a  fountain  of  gratitude  which  only  death  can  close.  I 
know  you  do  not  need  a  profusion  of  thanks,  but  when  the 
heart  is  full,  the  tongue  must  speak.  .  .  .  Never  could  I 
have  anticipated  such  a  change  as  has  taken  place  in  my  feel 
ings.  I  have  constantly  said  of  Boston,  until  now,  with  regard 
to  my  affection  for  it,  that  every  stone  in  its  streets  was  a  mag 
net  of  attraction.  And  now — will  you  credit  the  confession "?  — 
I  am  —  yes,  sighing  to  return  to  the  '  city  of  brotherly  love.' " 

In  the  letter  to  his  friend  Dole  he  continues : 

MS.  June  u  The  mockery  of  mockeries  is  at  hand  —  the  Fourth  of 
July !  By  many,  the  day  will  be  spent  in  rioting  and  in 
temperate  drinking  —  by  others,  in  political  defamation  and 
partisan  heat  —  by  others,  in  boasting  of  the  freedom  of  the 
American  people  and  unhazardous  denunciations  of  the  mother 
country.  The  waste  of  money,  and  health,  and  morals,  will  be 
immense.  Another  party  will  seize  the  occasion  (many  of 


^T.  27. J  ORGANIZATION.  285 

them  with  the  best  motives)  to  extol  the  merits  of  the  Coloniza-     CHAP.  IX. 
tion  Society,  and  increase  its  funds.     Mistaken  men  !    A  very         T^I2 
small  number  will  spend  the  day  in  sadness  and  supplication, 
on  account  of  the  horrible  oppression  which  is  exercised  over 
the  bodies  and  souls  of  two  millions  of  the  rational  creatures  of 
God,  in  this  boasted  land  of  liberty. 

u  I  have  been  appointed,  by  the  New-England  Anti-Slavery 
Society,  to  deliver  an  address  in  this  city  on  the  4th  of  July,  on 
the  subject  of  slavery.  Although  the  most  strenuous  exertions 
have  been  made  by  a  committee  to  procure  a  meeting-house  in 
which  to  have  the  address  delivered,  up  to  this  hour  they  have  not 
been  able  to  succeed,  and  probably  we  must  resort  to  a  hall.  Tell 
it  not  at  the  South !  Publish  it  not  in  the  capital  of  Georgia  ! " 

The  address  was  in  fact  delivered  in  Boylston  Hall, 
and  afterwards  on  the  same  day  at  Lynn.  It  was  re-  Lib.  2.  -.  107. 
marked  that,  contrary  to  the  usage  of  the  time,  the  Eev. 
Joshua  N.  Danforth,  an  agent  of  the  Colonization  So 
ciety,  who  officiated  011  the  previous  Sunday  at  the  Essex- 
Street  Church,  refused  to  read  the  printed  notice  of  the 
address.  Twelve  days  later,  in  the  one  church  sure  to 
open  its  doors  to  him,  the  Baptist  Church  in  Belknap 
Street,  Mr.  Garrison  delivered  another  address,  on  the 
"Progress  of  the  Abolition  Cause,'7  before  the  African 
Abolition  Freehold  Society,  in  commemoration  of  the 
Act  of  Parliament,  in  1807,  making  the  slave  trade 
piracy.  In  this  discourse,  afterwards  printed  by  request, 
occurs  a  striking  apostrophe  to  Clarkson  and  Wilber-  p.  8. 
force,  and  the  following  personal  passages : 

u  Last  year,  I  felt  as  if  I  were  fighting  single-handed  against  p.  21. 
the  great  enemy ;  now  I  see  around  me  a  host  of  valiant  war 
riors,  armed  with  weapons  of  an  immortal  temper,  whom 
nothing  can  daunt,  and  who  are  pledged  to  the  end  of  the 
contest.  The  number  is  increasing  with  singular  rapidity. 
The  standard  which  has  been  lifted  up  in  Boston  is  attracting 
the  gaze  of  the  nation,  and  inspiring  the  drooping  hearts  of 
thousands  with  hope  and  courage." 

"  As  for  myself,  whatever  may  be  my  fate  —  whether  I  fall        P.  24. 
in  the  spring-time  of  manhood  by  the  hand  of  the  assassin,  or 
be  immured  in  a  Georgia  cell,  or  be  permitted  to  live  to  a  ripe 
old  age  —  I  know  that  the   success  of  your  cause  depends 


286  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKRISON.  [^T.  27. 


CHAP  IX.  nothing  upon  my  existence.  I  am  but  as  a  drop  in  the  ocean, 
I^~a  which,  if  it  be  separated,  cannot  be  missed.  My  own  faith  is 
strong  —  my  vision,  clear  —  my  consolation,  great.  l  Who  art 
thou,  0  great  mountain  ?  Before  Zerubbabel  thou  shalt  be 
come  a  plain  :  and  he  shall  bring  forth  the  headstone  thereof 
with  shoutings,  crying,  Grace,  grace  unto  it.'  " 

Towards  the  latter  part  of  August  the  Board  of  Man 
agers  of  the  New-England  Anti-Slavery  Society  appointed 
Mr.  Garrison  an  agent  "  to  deliver  addresses,  etc.,  for  a 
period  not  exceeding  three  months/'  with  compensation 
at  the  rate  of  one  hundred  dollars  for  that  period, 
and  his  expenses.  In  accordance  with  this  commission 
he  began  a  tour  which  embraced  the  central  and  eastern 
parts  of  Massachusetts,  the  northern  part  of  Rhode 
Island,  and  Maine  from  Portland  to  Bangor  —  the  last  a 
region  wholly  new  to  him.  In  a  series  of  letters  to  the 

£#.2:158,    Liberator  he   described  his   experiences  from  week  to 
162,165,166,          ___,..  .  . 

170.  175.     week.     Explaining  at  the  outset  his  motives  in  going 

about,  he  placed  first  justice  to  himself  : 

Lib.  2.  :  158.  "  My  enemies  have  had  a  long  indulgence,  until  they  begin 
to  think  they  are  safe  from  retribution.  What  libels  have  they 
not  put  forth,  what  caricatures  have  they  not  drawn,  what 
calumnies  have  they  not  industriously  propagated,  from  Maine 
to  Missouri,  respecting  my  motives  and  principles  !  .  .  . 
Such  phrases  as  these  —  l  the  madman  Garrison  ,'  '  the  fanatic  Gar 
rison,  "*'  the  incendiary  Garrison^  —  have  extensively  become  as 
familiar  as  household  words.  Nothing  amuses  me  more  than 
to  witness  the  unaffected  and  agreeable  surprise  which  many 
strangers  manifest  in  their  countenances  on  a  personal  intro 
duction  to  myself.  They  had  almost  imagined  me  to  be  in  figure 
a  monster  of  huge  and  horrid  proportions  ;  but  now  finding  me 
decently  made,  without  a  single  horn,  they  take  me  cordially  by 
the  hand,  and  acknowledge  me  l  a  marvellous  proper  man.'  " 

An  instance  in  point  occurred  at  the  house  of  the  ven 
erable  Moses  Brown,  in  Providence,1  on  Mr.  Garrison's 
return  from  the  Philadelphia  Convention  : 

l  About  June  21.  "  We  had,"  writes  H.  E.  Benson  to  S.  J.  May,  June  26,  "  a 
short  though  delightful  visit  from  Mr.  Garrison  last  week.  If  I  had  formed 
a  very  high  opinion  of  him  from  what  I  had  heard  about  him,  that  opinion 
was  certainly  not  lessened  when  I  became  personally  acquainted  with  him." 


^ET.  27.]  ORGANIZATION.  287 

"  During  my  visit  at  his  dwelling,  an  individual  from  New    Lib.  2  -.  162. 

York  was  introduced,  named ,  (a  relative  of  the  patriarch, 

and  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,)  whose  deportment 
was  somewhat  pedantic  and  lofty  —  acquired,  no  doubt,  in  the 
school-room,  as  he  was  a  teacher.1  The  subjects  of  slavery  and 
colonization  being  introduced,  he  instantly  avowed  himself 
hostile  to  immediate  abolition,  and  (of  course)  friendly  to  the 
Colonization  Society.  He  then  began,  (ignorant  all  the  while 
of  my  name,)  in  unmeasured  terms  to  denounce  { one  Garrigus, 
or  Garrison,  or  some  such  name  —  a  madman,  a  fanatic,  and  a 
radical,  who  was  calling  for  the  immediate  liberation  of  all  the 
slaves  in  this  country,'  etc.,  etc.  This  personal  assault  was  ex 
ceedingly  diverting  to  all  the  company,  nor  could  I  refrain 
from  laughter.  Assuming  as  much  gravity  as  possible,  I  asked 
him  whether  he  knew  Mr.  Garrison  personally  ?  He  replied, 
No.  Are  you  familiar  with  his  sentiments  ?  I  again  inquired. 
Yes  —  he  had  seen  two  or  three  numbers  of  a  paper  which 
he  published,  called  the  Liberator.  Did  you  ever  see  any 
principles  advocated  in  it  by  him  which  are  not  held  in  common 
by  the  Society  of  Friends?  Oh,  his  memory  was  not  suffi 
ciently  tenacious  to  enable  him  to  cite  particular  passages.  I 
then  inquired  whether  he  understood  the  doctrines  and  prin 
ciples  of  the  Colonization  Society  ?  Yes,  he  did.  Taking  up  a 
copy  of  my  t  Thoughts,'  which  happened  to  lie  on  the  table,  I 
read  a  few  passages  from  the  Reports  of  the  Society,  for  his 
edification.  These  seemed  to  stagger  him,  till,  taking  the  book 
from  my  hands,  he  discovered  on  the  title-page  that  I  was  its 
author,  on  which  he  sneeringly  remarked,  '  Oh,  this  is  by  that 
radical  Garrison  !  I  don't  believe  his  statements  ! '  —  and  he 
was  again  commencing  a  tirade  against  me  when  he  was  checked 
by  Friend  Brown  (who  could  no  longer  suppress  his  pleasant 
humor)  in  the  following  quaint  and  pithy  manner  :  l  Thee  does 
not  know  to  whom  thee  has  been  talking  —  this  is  William 
Lloyd  Garrison ! ' 

"  The  effect  of  this  annunciation  upon  the  gentleman  was 
ludicrous  in  the  extreme :  he  apologized  for  his  plainness  of 
speech,  confessed  that  he  had  read  very  few  of  my  writings, 
and  that  he  had  heard  many  allegations  against  me  which  he 
supposed  were  true,  etc.,  etc.  I  told  him  that  I  hoped  he  would 
continue  to  speak  as  frankly  as  he  had  spoken  before  the  dis 
closure  of  my  name  ;  that  I  had  taken  offence  at  nothing  which 
he  had  advanced  except  his  impeachment  of  my  veracity ;  and 
l  This  was  none  other  than  Goold  Brown,  the  grammarian. 


288  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAKEISON.  [^ET.  27. 

CHAP.  IX.  I  could  easily  forgive  that,  on  the  supposition  that  it  was  hastily 
lg^  made  to  avoid  a  defeat.  A  long  and  spirited  conversation  ensued, 
in  which  nearly  all  the  company  participated  ;  and  on  parting, 
I  gave  him  a  copy  of  my  '  Thoughts,'  for  his  harmless  traduce- 
ment, —  persuaded  that  our  interview  had  not  been  altogether 
unprofitable,  and  that  henceforth  the  '  madman  Garrigus,  or 
Garrison,  or  some  such  name,' l  would  not  rank  quite  so  low  in 
his  estimation." 

Worcester  was  the  first  place  visited  by  Mr.  Garrison, 
his  choice  being  influenced  by  the  fact  that  an  Anti- 
Masonic  Convention  was  to  be  held  there,  on  September 

Lib.  2 : 158.  5,  to  which  he  had  been  appointed  delegate  for  Suffolk 
County.2  Though  heartily  in  sympathy  with  its  objects,3 
he  appears  to  have  taken  no  active  part  in  its  proceed 
ings  j  and  having  spoken  on  slavery  in  the  Town  Hall, 
after  a  church  had  been  refused  him,  he  drove  through 
the  beautiful  scenery  of  the  Blackstone  Valley  to  Provi 
dence.  The  sight  of  the  numerous  factory  villages  on 

Ante,  p.  75-    the  way  confirmed  his  traditional  views  on  the  tariff : 

Lib.  2 : 162.  "  Although  I  have  long  since  withdrawn  from  the  field  of 
politics,  I  feel  a  strong  interest  in  the  perpetuity  of  that 
system  which  fosters  and  protects  the  industry  of  the 
American  people.77  So,  later,  at  Hallowell,  Maine,  he 
found  "an  intelligent,  clear-headed,  and  industrious 
population,  whom  it  is  not  easy  to  mislead  by  any  politi 
cal  impostures,  and  who  are  fully  aware  that  the  pro 
tection  of  American  industry  is  the  life-blood  of  the 

Lib.  2:162.  nation."  In  Providence  he  renewed  his  visit  to  Moses 
Brown,  enjoyed  the  companionship  of  Henry  Benson, 
and  made  several  addresses  to  the  colored  people,  whom 
he  helped  form  a  temperance  society. 

1  Goold  Brown's  blundering  was  not  so  far  out  of  the  way.     In  the  south 
of  France  (Tarn-et-Garonne)  Garrigues  and  Garrison  (or  Garrisson)  are 
regarded  as  variations  of  the  same  name.     The  latter  signifies  "  little  oak." 

2  A  pamphlet  report  of  the  "Proceedings  of  the  Third  Anti-Masonic  Con 
vention  at  Worcester,"  in  the  Mass.  Historical  Society's  Library,  contains 
an  address  to  the  people  of  Massachusetts,  signed  by  the  delegates.     Mr. 
Garrison's  name  figures  among  the  sixty-one  from  Suffolk  Co. 

3"!  go  for  the  immediate,  unconditional,  and  total  abolition  of  Free 
masonry"  (Lib.  2:158). 


JET.  27.]  OKGANIZATION.  289 

In  Portland,  which  he  reached  by  boat  from  Boston, 
he  was  the  guest  of  Nathan  Winslow,  "  one  of  the  most  Lib.  2:166. 
thoroughgoing  friends  of  the  abolition  cause  in  our 
land/'1  and  was  also  the  object  of  marked  attentions 
from  the  colored  citizens.  His  public  addresses  were 
well  attended  and  respectfully  listened  to.  Among  his 
converts  was  General  Samuel  Fessenden,  a  man  of  fine 
presence,  a  lawyer  of  the  highest  standing,  and  one  of 
the  pillars  of  the  Colonization  Society  in  Maine.  He  had 
been  induced  to  listen  to  Mr.  Garrison's  discourse  on  the 
subject  from  the  Rev.  Dr.  Nichols's2  pulpit,  and  was  so 
much  affected  as  to  be  moved  to  tears  by  it.  With  eyes 
still  suffused,  he  awaited  the  speaker  on  his  exit  from 
the  church,  and  accompanied  him  to  Mr.  Winslow's, 
where  conversation  lasted  till  past  midnight.3  In  Hal- 
lowell,  writes  Mr.  Garrison,  "  the  first  individual  upon  Lib.  z  •.  166. 
whom,  as  in  duty  bound,  I  called,  was  Mr.  Ebenezer 
Dole,  a  philanthropist  whose  name  is  familiar  to  the 
readers  of  the  Liberator  —  the  first  life-member  of  the 
New-England  Anti-Slavery  Society  —  the  friend  of  the 
poor  and  needy,  and  supporter  of  the  various  benevolent 
operations  of  the  times  —  whose  interest  in  the  abolition 
cause  is  unsurpassed  —  and  to  whom  I  labor  under  very 
onerous  obligations.  Our  meeting  was  a  cordial  one." 
On  his  return  from  Bangor,  he  stopped  at  Waterville, 
where  he  was  entertained  by  the  President  of  the  College, 

IThe  same  might  have  been  said  of  his  brother  Isaac  Winslow,  who 
shortly  afterwards  lent  timely  and  generous  assistance  to  the  struggling 
firm  of  Garrison  &  Knapp.  Nathan  had  subscribed  to  the  Liberator  from 
its  first  number,  and  took  it  to  the  day  of  his  death  in  1861  —  "  more  than 
once  preventing  its  suspension  by  his  liberal  assistance,  and  authorizing  us 
to  draw  upon  him  at  any  time,  in  case  of  emergency,  for  the  means  to  con 
tinue  it"  (Lib.  31: 151).  Both  of  these  excellent  men,  who  were  members 
of  the  Society  of  Friends,  took  part  in  the  formation  of  the  American  Anti- 
Slavery  Society  (Lib.  3:202).  Nathan  Winslow  subsequently  made  his 
home  in  Massachusetts,  and  became  the  father-in-law  of  Samuel  E.  Sewall. 

2  Ichabod  Nichols,  a  prominent  member  of  the  Unitarian  denomination. 

3  Related  by  Mr.  Garrison  to  his  son  F.  J.  G.     General  Fessenden  pre 
sided  at  the  formation  of  a  State  anti-slavery  society  in  the  spring  of  the 
following  year  (Lib.  3: 75,  79).    He  was  father  of  the  distinguished  Senator, 
Wm.  Pitt  Fessenden. 

VOL.  I.— 19 


290  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON.  [^T.  27. 

CHAP.  ix.    the  Rev.  Jeremiah  Chaplin,1  and  spoke  to  the  students  on 

1832.        colonization.     At  Augusta  he  attended  a  meeting  caDed 

by  the  Rev.  Cyril  Pearl,  in  aid  of  the  Colonization  So- 

Lib.  2 : 167.  ciety,  and  so  embarrassed  the  agent  by  his  questions  and 
impressed  the  audience  by  his  appeal  in  opposition,  that 
the  vote  was  emphatically  in  the  negative.2 

Lib.  2 : 87.  In  the  Liberator  announcing  the  editor's  departure 
for  Philadelphia  appeared  the  first  advertisement  of  an 
octavo  pamphlet  of  240  pages,  of  which  the  full  title  read : 
'  Thoughts  on  African  Colonization :  or  an  impartial 
exhibition  of  the  doctrines,  principles  and  purposes  of 
the  American  Colonization  Society.  Together  with  the 
resolutions,  addresses  and  remonstrances  of  the  free 
people  of  color.  By  Wm.  Lloyd  Garrison.'  For  a  motto 
it  bore  these  two  texts  :  "  Out  of  thine  own  mouth  will 
I  condemn  thee."  "  Prove  all  things :  hold  fast  that  which 
is  good."  The  preface  opened  with  these  words : 

P.  iii-  "  I  dedicate  this  wo'rk  to  iny  countrymen,  in  whose  intelli 

gence,  magnanimity  and  humanity  I  place  the  utmost  reliance. 
Although  they  have  long  suffered  themselves  to  be  swayed  by  a 
prejudice  as  unmanly  as  it  is  wicked,  and  have  departed  widely 
from  the  golden  rule  of  the  gospel,  in  their  treatment  of  the 
people  of  color,  to"suppose  that  they  will  always  be  the  despisers 
and  persecutors  of  this  unfortunate  class  is,  in  my  opinion,  to 
libel  their  character.  A  change  in  their  feelings  and  senti 
ments  is  already  visible  —  a  change  which  promises,  ere  long, 
to  redeem  their  character  from  the  bloody  stains  which  slavery 
has  cast  upon  it,  and  to  release  the  prisoner  from  his  chains.  .  .  . 
"  To  impair  the  force  of  this  exposition,  the  ardent  advocates 
of  the  Colonization  Society  will  undoubtedly  attempt  to  evade 
the  ground  of  controversy,  and  lead  incautious  minds  astray  in  a 
labyrinth  of  sophistry.  But  the  question  is  not,  whether  the 

1  Formerly  of  Danvers,  Mass.     (See  vol.  viii.  Coll.  Maine  Hist.  Soc.,  p. 
178.)   Mr.  Chaplin's  wife,  Eunice  Stickney,  was  a  distant  relative  of   Mr. 
Garrison's,  though  neither  host  nor  guest  was  aware  of  the  fact.     (See  the 
Stickney  Genealogy,  pp.  87,  146,  458.) 

2  The  refutation  was  effectual,  for  a  second  attempt  the  next  year  in  the 
same  place  by  Pearl,  during  Mr.  Garrison's  absence  in  England,  proved  an 
even  worse  failure.     The  latter's  tour  at  this  time  also  embraced  the  towns 
of  Newburyport,  Lowell,  and  Salem  (Lib.  2:167,  183,  and  MS.  letters  of 
Arnold  Buff  urn,  Oct.  23,  24,  1832). 


THOUGHTS 


ON 


AFRICAN     COLONIZATION 


OR 


AN    IMPARTIAL    EXHIBITION 


OF_THE 


DOCTRINES,  PRINCIPLES  AND  PURPOSES 


American  <£oioui?atCon 


TOGETHER    WITH    THE 


RESOLUTIONS,  ADDRESSES  AND  REMONSTRANCES 


FREE   PEOPLE    OF    COLOR. 


« Out  of  thine  own  mouth  will  I  condemn  thee.' 
'  Prove  all  things  ;   hold  fast  that  which  is  good. 


BY  WM.  LLOYD  GARRISON. 


BOSTON : 

PRINTED  AND  PUBLISHED  BY  GARRISON  AND  KNAP*. 
KO.  11,    MERCHANTS*    HALL. 

1832. 


Mr.  27.1 


ANTI-COLONIZATION. 


291 


climate  of  Africa  is  salubrious,  nor  whether  the  mortality  among 
the  emigrants  has  been  excessive,  nor  whether  the  colony  is  in 
a  prosperous  condition,  nor  whether  the  transportation  of  our 
whole  colored  population  can  be  effected  in  thirty  years  or  three 
centuries,  nor  whether  any  slaves  have  been  emancipated  on 
condition  of  banishment  j  but  whether  the  doctrines  and  prin 
ciples  of  the  Society  accord  with  the  doctrines  and  principles  of 
the  gospel,  whether  slaveholders  are  the  just  proprietors  of 
their  slaves,  whether  it  is  not  the  sacred  duty  of  the  nation  to 
abolish  the  system  of  slavery  now,  and  to  recognize  the  people 
of  color  as  brethren  and  countrymen  who  have  been  unjustly 
treated  and  covered  with  unmerited  shame.  This  is  the  ques 
tion  —  and  the  only  question.'1'1 

There  follow  thirty-eight  pages  of  "  Introductory  Re 
marks,"  in  which  Mr.  Garrison  defends  the  sincerity  of 
his  opposition  to  the  Society ;  tells  how  he  was  converted 
from  a  favorable  opinion  of  it  by  examining  its  reports 
for  himself  5  cites  all  the  specifications  he  has  brought 
against  it  in  the  Liberator  and  in  his  i  Address  to  the 
Free  People  of  Color7  in  1831;  declares  his  friendliness 
to  voluntary  colonization,  whether  in  Liberia  or  else 
where,  but  shows,  by  a  review  of  the  history  of  Liberia, 
that  the  boasted  evangelization  of  Africa  has  been  neg 
lected  —  that  forts  and  murderous  wars,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  rum  and  tobacco,  on  the  other,  have  formed  the  basis 
of  propagandism  among  the  natives,  while  the  colony 
itself  is  left  in  intellectual  darkness,  so  that  there  are 
"  two  ignorant  and  depraved  nations  to  be  regenerated 
instead  of  one  " :  , 

"  One  of  these  nations  is  so  incorrigibly  stupid,  or  unfathoma- 
bly  deep  in  pollution,  (for  such  is  the  argument,)  that  although 
surrounded  by  ten  millions  of  people  living  under  the  full  blaze 
of  gospel  light,  and  having  every  desirable  facility  to  elevate 
a,nd  save  it,  it  never  can  rise  until  it  be  removed  at  least  three 
thousand  miles  from  their  vicinage  !  —  and  yet  it  is  first  to  be 
evangelized  in  a  barbarous  land,  by  a  feeble,  inadequate  pro 
cess,  before  it  can  be  qualified  to  evangelize  the  other  nation ! " l 

l  Fifty  years  later  (1881)  a  friend  of  colonization  and  Liberia,  after  re 
viewing  the  deplorable  condition  of  the  republic,  concludes:  "  We  shall  be 
wise  if  we  accept  the  condition  imposed  upon  us,  and  do  not  persist  in 


CHAP.  IX. 
1832. 


Thoughts, 
P.  33- 


292 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKEISON. 


.  27. 


CHAP.  ix.        Further  extracts  will  convey  the  general  tenor  of  the 

!8^2.        "  Introductory  Remarks."  After  alluding  to  his  deliberate 

espousal  of  the  anti-slavery  cause,  Mr.  Garrison  continues : 

Thoughts,  "  In  opposing  the  American  Colonization  Society,  I  have  also 
counted  the  cost,  and  as  clearly  foreseen  the  formidable  oppo 
sition  which  will  be  arrayed  against  me.  Many  of  the  clergy 
are  enlisted  in  its  support :  their  influence  is  powerful.  Men  of 
wealth  and  elevated  station  are  among  its  contributors  :  wealth 
and  station  are  almost  omnipotent.  The  press  has  been 
seduced  into  its  support :  the  press  is  a  potent  engine.  More 
over,  the  Society  is  artfully  based  upon  and  defended  by  popular 
prejudice:  it  takes  advantage  of  wicked  and  preposterous 
opinions,  and  hence  its  success.  These  things  grieve,  they  can 
not  deter  me.  '  Truth  is  mighty  and  will  prevail.'  It  is  able 
to  make  falsehood  blush,  and  tear  from  hypocrisy  its  mask, 
and  annihilate  prejudice,  and  overthrow  persecution,  and  break 
every  fetter.  .  .  . 

Ibid, p.  2.  "In  the  progress  of  this  discussion  I  shall  have  occasion  to 
use  very  plain  and  sometimes  very  severe  language.  This 
would  be  an  unpleasant  task,  did  not  duty  imperiously  demand 
its  application.  To  give  offence  I  am  loath,  but  more  to 
hide  or  modify  the  truth.  I  shall  deal  with  the  Society  in  its 
collective  form  —  as  one  body  —  and  not  with  individuals. 
While  I  shall  be  necessitated  to  marshal  individual  opinions  in 
review,  I  protest,  ab  origine,  against  the  supposition  that  indis 
criminate  censure  is  intended,  or  that  every  friend  of  the  So 
ciety  cherishes  similar  views.  He  to  whom  my  reprehension 
does  not  apply,  will  not  receive  it.  It  is  obviously  impossible, 
in  attacking  a  numerous  and  multiform  combination,  to  exhibit 
private  dissimilarities,  or  in  every  instance  to  discriminate 
between  the  various  shades  of  opinion.  It  is  sufficient  that 
exceptions  are  made.  My  warfare  is  against  the  AMERICAN 
COLONIZATION  SOCIETY.  If  I  shall  identify  its  general,  pre 
ponderating  and  clearly  developed  traits,  it  must  stand  or  fall 
as  they  shall  prove  benevolent  or  selfish.  .  .  . 

"  The  denunciations  which  I  am  now  hurling  against  slavery 
and  its  abettors,  —  which  seem  to  many  so  violent  and  un 
merited, —  will  be  considered  moderate,  pertinent  and  just, 

crowding  upon  the  shores  of  Liberia  ship-loads  of  poor,  ignorant,  and 
improvident  negro  laborers,  to  die  or  to  degenerate  to  a  state  very  nearly 
approaching  their  original  barbarism,  in  the  vain  hope  that  we  shall  thus 
evangelize  Africa"  ('The  Liberian  Republic  as  It  Is,'  by  George  R. 
Stetson,  p.  26.  Boston  :  A.  Williams  &  Co.) 


.  27.] 


ANTI-  COLONIZATION. 


293 


1832. 

Thoughts, 
P-  15- 


when  this  murderous,  soul-destroying  system  shall  have  been    CHAP.  IX. 
overthrown.     .     .     . 

"  To  measure  the  propriety  of  language,  we  must  first  examine 
the  character  of  the  system,  or  the  nature  of  the  object,  against 
which  it  is  directed.  If  we  see  a  person  wilfully  abusing  the 
goods  of  an  individual,  we  may  reprehend  him,  but  with  com 
parative  mildness.  If  we  see  him  maiming,  or  in  any  way 
maltreating  another  man's  cattle,  we  may  increase  the  severity 
of  our  rebuke.  But  if  we  see  him  violating  all  the  social  and 
sacred  relations  of  life,  —  daily  defrauding  a  number  of  his 
fellow-creatures  of  the  fruits  of  their  toil,  calling  them  his 
property,  selling  them  for  money,  lacerating  their  bodies,  and 
ruining  their  souls,  —  we  may  use  the  strongest  terms  of  moral 
indignation.  Nor  is  plain  and  vehement  denunciation  of  crime 
inconsistent  with  the  most  benevolent  feelings  towards  the 
perpetrators  of  it.  We  are  sustained  in  these  positions  by  the 
example  of  Christ,  and  the  apostles,  and  the  prophets,  and  the 
reformers. 

"  I  should  oppose  this  Society  even  were  its  doctrines  harm-  Ibid.,  p.  19. 
less.  It  imperatively  and  effectually  seals  up  the  lips  of  a  vast 
number  of  influential  and  pious  men,  who,  for  fear  of  giving 
offence  to  those  slaveholders  with  whom  they  associate,  and 
thereby  leading  to  a  dissolution  of  the  compact,  dare  not  ex 
pose  the  flagrant  enormities  of  the  system  of  slavery,  nor 
denounce  the  crime  of  holding  human  beings  in  bondage.  They 
dare  not  lead  to  the  onset  against  the  forces  of  tyranny ;  and  if 
they  shrink  from  the  conflict,  how  shall  the  victory  be  won  ?  I 
do  not  mean  to  aver,  that,  in  their  sermons,  or  addresses,  or 
private  conversations,  they  never  allude  to  the  subject  of 
slavery ;  for  they  do  so  frequently,  or  at  least  every  Fourth  of 
July.  But  my  complaint  is,  that  they  content  themselves  with 
representing  slavery  as  an  evil, — a  misfortune, — a  calamity 
which  has  been  entailed  upon  us  by  former  generations,1— 
and  not  as  an  individual  CRIME,  embracing  in  its  folds  robbery, 
cruelty,  oppression  and  piracy.  They  do  not  identify  the  crimi 
nals  ;  they  make  no  direct,  pungent,  earnest  appeal  to  the  con 
sciences  of  men-stealers.  .  .  . 

"  Singular  enough,  I  have  been  almost  as  cruelly  aspersed 
by  ministers  of  the  gospel  and  church-members  as  by  any 

1  "  The  present  generation  [at  the  South]  are  no  more  responsible  for  the 
existence  of  slavery  than  for  swamps,  pine  barrens,  or  any  other  physical 
blemish  of  soil  or  local  insalubrity"  (Harrison  Gray  Otis,  in  letter  of  Oct. 
17,  1831,  cited  above,  p.  242). 


i.  e.,  the 
Union. 


Thoughts, 
p.  9. 


294 


WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAKEISON. 


CHAP.  IX. 
1832. 


P.  40. 


Thoughts, 
p.  78.- 


Ibid.,  p.  80. 
Cf.  First 
Annual  Re 
port  N.  E. 
A.  S.  Society, 
p.  17. 


other  class  of  men.  Unacquainted  with  me,  and  ignorant  of 
my  sentiments,  they  have  readily  believed  the  accusations  of 
my  enemies.  The  introduction  of  my  name  into  conversation 
has  elicited  from  them  contemptuous  sneers  or  strong  denunci 
ations.  I  have  a  right  to  complain  of  this  treatment,  and  I  do 
strongly  protest  against  it  as  unchristian,  hurtful,  and  ungen 
erous.  To  prejudge  and  condemn  an  individual,  on  vague  and 
apocryphal  rumors,  without  listening  to  his  defence  or  examin 
ing  evidence,  is  tyranny.  Perhaps  I  am  in  error — perhaps  I 
deserve  unqualified  condemnation ;  but  I  am  at  least  entitled 
to  a  privilege  which  is  granted  to  the  vilest  criminals,  namely, 
the  privilege  of  a  fair  trial.  I  ask  nothing  more.  To  accuse 
me  of  heresy,  madness,  and  sedition,  is  one  thing ;  to  substan 
tiate  the  accusation,  another." 

The  formal  arraignment  of  the  Colonization  Society  is 
divided  in  the  *  Thoughts '  into  ten  sections.  The  first 
aims  "  to  show,  first,  the  original  design  of  the  Society ; 
secondly,  that  it  is  still  strictly  adhered  to ;  and  lastly, 
that  the  Society  is  solemnly  pledged  not  to  interfere  with 
the  system  of  slavery,  or  in  any  manner  to  disturb  the 
repose  of  the  planters."  The  second  section  convicts  the 
Society  of  being  the  apologist  of  slavery  and  slave 
holders.  The  third  proves  that  it  recognizes  slaves  as 
property ;  and  the  fourth,  that  it  actually  increases  the 
value  of  slaves,  and  adds  strength  and  security  to  the 
system.  The  fifth  section  denounces  it  as  the  enemy  of 
immediate  abolition : 

"  This,  I  am  aware,  in  the  present  corrupt  state  of  public 
sentiment,  will  not  generally  be  deemed  an  objectionable 
feature ;  but  I  regard  it  with  inexpressible  abhorrence  and 
dismay.  .  .  . 

"  Immediate  abolition  does  not  mean  that  the  slaves  shall 
immediately  exercise  the  right  of  suffrage,  or  be  eligible  to 
any  office,  or  be  emancipated  from  law,  or  be  free  from  the 
benevolent  restraints  of  guardianship.  We  contend  for  the 
immediate  personal  freedom  of  the  slaves,  for  their  exemption 
from  punishment  except  where  law  has  been  violated,  for  their 
employment  and  reward  as  free  laborers,  for  their  exclusive 
right  to  their  own  bodies  and  those  of  their  own  children,  for 
their  instruction  and  subsequent  admission  to  all  the  trusts, 
offices,  honors  and  emoluments  of  intelligent  freemen.  .  *  .  . 


-ET.  27.  J  ANTI- COLONIZATION.  295 

"Nor  does  immediate  abolition  mean  that  any  compulsory    CHAP.  IX. 
power,  other  than  moral,  should  be  used  in  breaking  the  fetters        l8~ 
of  slavery." 

The  sixth  section  contends  that  the  Colonization  Society 
is  nourished  by  fear  and  selfishness  —  "  an  irrepressible  Thoughts, 
and  agonizing  fear  of  the  influence  of  the  free  people  of  *•  95' 
color  over  the  slave  population,"  in  breeding  discontent 
and  insubordination  •  and  the  instinct  of  self-preserva 
tion  against  "  the  corroding  evil  of  this  numerous  caste,"  ibid., pp.  98, 
these  " alien  enemies,"  "by  necessity  anything  rather 
than  loyal  citizens."  In  section  seven  the  utter  expulsion 
of  the  blacks,  on  the  pretence  of  sending  the  "exiles" 
back  to  "  their  own  country,"  "  their  native  land,"  is  shown 
to  be  the  aim  of  the  Society,  which,  nevertheless,  has  for 
gotten  to  make  provision  for  the  mulattoes.  As  "  white  /&&,/.  n9. 
blood  in  Africa  would  be  as  repugnant  to  Nature  as 
black  blood  is  in  this  country,"  their  case  can  only  be 
settled  by  a  resort  to  phlebotomy.  In  section  eight  Mr.  ibid., p.  121. 
Garrison  vindicates  the  character  of  the  free  colored 
population  of  the  North  against  the  disparagement  of 
the  Society,  declaring  it  superior  to  that  of  equally  in 
digent  whites  or  foreign  immigrants.  In  section  nine 
the  Society  is  accused  of  denying  the  possibility  of  ele 
vating  the  blacks  in  this  country.  Hereupon,  says  Mr. 
Garrison,  "The  detestation  of  feeling,  the  fire  of  moral  /&#.,/.  134, 
indignation,  and  the  agony  of  soul  which  I  have  felt 
kindling  and  swelling  within  me,  in  the  progress  of  this 
review,  under  this  section  reach  the  acme  of  intensity  " ; 
and  he  cries  out  against  such  unrepublican  and  un 
christian  sentiments.  He  concludes  his  arraignment 
with  the  proposition  that  the  Society  deceives  and  mis 
leads  the  nation  as  to  its  actual  achievements  in  removing 
the  blacks,  and  the  cost  thereof,  and  as  to  its  ability  to 
transport  them  all  in  less  than  thirty  years ;  while  its 
pretence  that  only  through  Liberia,  Sierra  Leone,  and 
similar  colonies  can  the  slave  trade  be  abolished,  con 
ceals  the  truth  that  the  only  way  is  to  break  up  the 
market.  The  number  of  slaves  annually  smuggled  into 


296  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GABKISON.  [^T.  27. 


the  South  is  seven  times  that  actually  transported  to 
Thoughts,  Africa  by  the  Society  in  fifteen  years.  "  By  letting  the 
system  of  slavery  alone,  then,  and  striving  to  protect  it, 
the  Society  is  encouraging  and  perpetuating  the  foreign 
slave  trade.'7 

All  these  positions  were  overwhelmingly  sustained  by 
extracts  from  the  Society's  organ  (the  African  Reposi 
tory),  its  annual  reports,  and  the  speeches  and  writings 
of  its  well-known  supporters,  including,  of  course,  Henry 
Clay,  the  open  apologist  of  slavery,  but  also  such  men  as 

ibid.,  p.  44.  Grerrit  Smith,  who  bore  witness  that  "  Our  Society  has 
nothing  to  do  directly  with  the  question  of  slavery'7; 

ibid.,  p.  49.  John  A.  Dix,  who  equally  disclaimed  for  it  any  abolition 
purpose  ;  W.  B.  O.  Peabody,  the  Unitarian  divine,  who 

ibid.,  p.  62.  did  not  doubt  that  "the  slaves  are  happier  than  they 
could  be  if  set  free  in  this  country";  Eliphalet  Nott, 
the  Presbyterian  President  of  Union  College,  who  held 
that  the  free  people  of  color,  having  been  degraded  by 

ibid.,  p.  143.  slavery,  were  "  still  further  degraded  by  the  mockery  of 
nominal  freedom  "  ;  Mathew  Carey,1  whose  dictum  was  : 
"  We  may,  therefore,  fairly  conclude  the  object  of  imme- 

l  Author  of  '  Letters  on  the  Colonization  Society,  and  of  its  Probable 
Result/  etc.  (Philadelphia,  4th  ed.,  June  19,  1832),  in  which  he  designates 
Mr.  Garrison  as  the  Society's  most  formidable  antagonist.  The  two  oppo 
nents  had  met  (Lib.  2:  143)  :  "  We  have  had  a  personal  interview  with  Mr. 
C.,  and  we  know  that  his  prejudices  against  the  people  of  color  are  active 
and  inveterate.  His  notions  of  justice  and  pleas  of  expediency  are  utterly 
abhorrent  to  our  moral  sense.  He  persisted  in  saying  that  the  condition  of 
the  slaves  was  better  than  that  of  the  laboring  classes  in  Great  Britain  !!  — 
an  assertion  which  makes  his  own  countrymen  a  servile  and  brutish  race, 
and  which  any  man  who  knows  the  difference  between  black  and  white 
should  blush  to  advance."  Carey,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  a  native  of 
Ireland.  Compare  Dr.  Channing's  letter  to  Miss  Aikin  of  Dec.  29,  1831  (p. 
113  of  '  Correspondence  ')  :  "  But  do  you  know  how  slaveholders  reconcile 
themselves  to  their  guilt  ?  .  .  .  '  Our  slaves  subsist  more  comfortably 
than  the  populace  and  peasantry  of  Europe.'  ...  I  acknowledge  the 
sophistry,  but  mourn  that  it  should  have  so  much  foundation."  Notice 
also  that  Mathew  Carey  had  published  in  1796  St.  George  Tucker's  '  Dis 
sertation  on  Slavery  ;  with  a  Proposal  for  the  Gradual  Abolition  of  it  in 
the  State  of  Virginia,'  bearing  this  epigraph  from  Montesquieu  :  "  Slavery 
not  only  violates  the  Laws  of  Nature  and  of  Civil  Society,  it  also  wounds 
the  best  forms  of  government  :  in  a  Democracy,  where  all  men  are  equal, 
slavery  is  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution." 


JET.  27.]  ANTI- COLONIZATION.  297 

diate,  universal  emancipation  wholly  unattainable,  or,  if    CHAP.  ix. 
attainable,  at  too  high  a  price  "  j  and  even  the  "  apostle       I832. 
of  peace,7'  William  Ladd,  who  "  knew "  that  immediate     Thoughts, 
emancipation  u  would  be  a  curse  to  all  parties."     These       p' 
names  manifest  the  Society's  strength  among  the  intel 
lectual  and  moral  as  well  as  political  leaders  of  public 
opinion.     Moreover : 

"  Of  the  whole  number  of  individuals  constituting  the  officers  ibid.,  Part 
of  the  Society,  nearly  three-fourths,  I  believe,  are  the  owners  of  "  ?'  ?6' 
slaves,  or  interested  in  slave  property  ;  not  one  of  whom,  to  my 
knowledge,  has  emancipated  any  of  his  slaves  to  be  sent  to 
Liberia ! !  The  President  of  the  Society  (Charles  Carroll)  owns, 
I  have  understood,  nearly  one  thousand  slaves  !  And  yet  he  is 
lauded,  beyond  measure,  as  a  patriot,  a  philanthropist,  and  a 
Christian !  The  former  President  (Judge  Bushrod  Washington), 
so  far  from  breaking  the  fetters  of  his  slaves,  actually  while 
holding  his  office  offered  a  large  reward  for  a  runaway  female 
slave,  to  any  person  who  would  secure  her  by  putting  her  into 
any  jail  within  the  United  States  !  " 

To  complete  the  effectiveness  of  his  assault,  Mr.  Gar 
rison  gathered  in  a  second  part  of  his  volume  the  pro 
testations  of  the  people  of  color  against  colonization, 
proving  them  to  be  "  as  unanimously  opposed  to  a  removal  ibid. ,  p.  5. 
to  Africa  as  the  Cherokees  from  the  council-fires  and 
graves  of  their  fathers."  Some  of  these,  like  the  Rich-  ibid.,  p.  9. 
moiid  (Va.)  resolutions  of  January,  and  the  Philadelphia 
resolutions  of  January  and  August,  1817  (with  James 
Forten  in  the  chair),  were  the  earliest  possible  remon 
strances  against  the  professed  objects  of  the  Society; 
the  rest,  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  had  been  printed 
in  the  Liberator,  which  was  naturally  charged  with  creat 
ing  the  adverse  sentiments  for  which  in  fact  it  merely 
served  as  a  mouthpiece.  "  It  is  my  solemn  conviction," 
wrote  Mr.  Garrison,  "  that  I  have  not  proselyted  a  dozen 
individuals ;  for  the  very  conclusive  reason  that  no 
conversions  were  necessary." 

Such  was  the  scheme  of  the  '  Thoughts  on  Colonization/ 
of  which,  at  the  present' day,  no  abstract,  however  sum 
mary,  could  escape  being  dull.  The  Society  still  lives, 


298 


WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 


[JET.  27. 


CHAP.  IX. 

1832. 


Thoughts, 
P-  38. 


but  its  existence  is  hardly  known  to  one  in  ten  thousand 
of  our  population,  and  the  pamphlet  which  unmasked  it, 
paralyzed  it,  and  reduced  it  to  insignificance,  has,  by  its 
very  success,  lost  a  larger  measure  of  its  readableness 
than  commonly  happens  to  polemic  literature.  Its  his 
toric  importance,  however,  can  never  diminish.  If  we 
could  imagine  in  our  time  a  l  Thoughts  on  the  Bible 
Society/  which  should,  with  the  same  eloquence  and 
cogency,  maintain  that  this  organization  was  the  greatest 
obstacle  to  science,  and  one  which  must  be  removed  at  all 
hazards,  we  should  have  some  idea  of  the  consternation 
produced  by  the  '  Thoughts  on  Colonization.7  "  This 
book,"  its  author  correctly  anticipated,  "will  doubtless 
increase  the  rage  of  my  enemies  ; 1  but  no  torrent  of  in 
vective  shall  successfully  whelm  it,  no  sophistry  impair  its 
force,  no  activity  destroy  its  influence,  no  misrepresen 
tation  defeat  its  usefulness.  I  commend  it  particularly  to 
the  candid  attention  of  the  two  most  powerful  classes  in 
this  country — editors  of  newspapers  and  the  clergy.  It 
is  not  a  light  matter  for  either  of  them  to  propagate 
false  doctrines  and  excite  delusive  hopes  on  the  sub 
ject  of  politics  or  religion."  One2  to  whom  the  book 
came  as  a  revelation  has  described  its  effect  in  the  follow 
ing  graphic  passage : 

"  Fifty  years  ago,  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say,  this  nation,  in 
church  and  state,  from  President  to  bootblack  —  I  mean  the 
white  bootblack — was  thoroughly  pro-slavery.  In  the  Sodom 
there  might  have  been  a  Lot  or  two  here  and  there  —  some  pro 
found  thinker  —  who  wished  justice  to  be  done  though  the 
heavens  should  fall,  but  he  was  despondent.  It  seemed  as 
though  nearly  the  whole  business  of  the  press,  the  pulpit,  and 

1  At  a  meeting  of  the  Massachusetts  Colonization  Society  in  Boston,  the 
Rev.  William  Hague  was  present  "when  the  great  pamphlet  of  Mr.  Gar 
rison,  fresh  from  the  press,  was  brought  in  and  placed  upon  the  table.  .  .  . 
The  Hon.  Alexander  H.  Everett  was  thoroughly  incensed,  and  said  that 
the  author  should  be  indicted  for  libel  "  (Boston  Watchman,  June  7,  1883). 

2  Elizur  Wright,  Jr.,  the  first  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  American 
Anti-Slavery  Society  (Lib.  3:1).    The  extract  is  taken  from  remarks  made 
at  a  memorial  service  in  honor  of  Mr.  Garrison,  held,  just  after  his  death, 
in  the  church  of  the  Rev.  Wm.  C.  Gannett,  at  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  June  1, 1879. 
They  were  afterwards  published  in  the  Chicago  Unity. 


^T.  27.]  ANTI-COLONIZATION.  299 

the  theological  seminary,  was  to  reconcile  the  people  to  the  CHAP.  IX. 
permanent  degradation  and  slavery  of  the  negro  race.  The  J^~ 
church  had  its  negro  pew,  and  caste  was  as  strictly  enforced 
between  the  African  and  European  complexions  as  it  ever  was 
between  Pariah  and  Brahmin.  Biblical  scholars  justified  the 
slavery  of  Ham's  descendants  from  the  Bible.  And,  what  was 
worst  of  all,  the  humanity  and  philanthropy  which  could  not 
otherwise  be  disposed  of,  was  ingeniously  seduced  into  an  Afri 
can  Colonization  Society,  whereby  all  slaves  who  had  grown 
seditious  and  troublesome  to  their  masters  could  be  trans 
planted  on  the  pestiferous  African  Coast.  That  this  wretched 
and  seemingly  transparent  humbug  could  have  deluded  any 
body,  must  now  seem  past  belief  :  but  I  must  with  shame  con 
fess  the  fact  that  I  for  one  was  deluded  by  it.  And  that  fact 
would  put  me  in  doubt  of  my  own  sanity  at  the  time  if  I  did 
not  know  that  high  statesmen,  presidents  of  colleges,  able 
editors,  and  that  most  undoubted  of  firm  philanthropists, 
Gerrit  Smith,  shared  the  same  delusion.  Bible  and  missionary 
societies  fellowshipped  that  mean  and  scurvy  device  of  the 
kidnapper,  in  their  holy  work.  It  was  spoken  of  as  the  most 
glorious  of  Christian  enterprises,  had  a  monthly  magazine 
devoted  to  itself,  and  taxed  about  every  pulpit  in  the  land  for 
an  annual  sermon  in  its  favor. 

"  It  was  early  in  1832,  I  think,  that  Mr.  Garrison  struck  the 
greatest  blow  of  his  life  —  or  any  man's  life — by  publishing  in 
a  thick  pamphlet,  with  all  the  emphasis  that  a  printer  knows 
how  to  give  with  types,  his  '  Thoughts  on  Colonization.'  His 
Liberator  editorials  and  this  tremendous  pamphlet  at  once 
struck  the  thinking  minds  of  the  country  with  wonderment  and 
awe.  Old  politicians  of  both  parties  bit  their  lips,  if  they  did 
not  gnash  their  teeth,  and,  in  the  absence  of  any  other  defence, 
invoked  the  mob.  It  was  in  vain.  The  fire  was  kindled.  When 
such  men  as  the  Tappans,  Alvan  Stewart,  Gerrit  Smith,  Gen 
eral  Fessenden,  Theodore  D.  Weld,  N.  P.  Rogers,  President 
Storrs,  Beriah  Green,  William  Goodell,  Joshua  Leavitt,  Amos 
A.  Phelps,  dropped  the  Colonization  Society,1  a  moral  victory 

l  Not  all  those  mentioned  by  Mr.  Wright  waited  for  the  publication  of 
the  'Thoughts'  to  discontinue  their  support  of  the  Society.  See,  for 
Arthur  Tappan,  ante,  p.  261,  and  particularly  Lib.  3 : 55,  where  Mr.  Tappan, 
after  stating  that  the  first  thing  which  shook  his  "  confidence  in  the 
Society  was  the  fact  that  ardent  spirits  were  allowed  to  be  sold  at  the 
colony"  (compare  Niles1  Register,  47:73),  goes  on  to  acknowledge  the  influ 
ence  of  "  the  arguments  of  that  most  distinguished  and  fearless  philanthro 
pist,  W.  L.  Garrison,  in  the  Liberator,"  in  convincing  him  of  the  single 


300  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARKISON.  O^T.  27. 

CHAP.  IX.    was  certain.    Hundreds  and  thousands  of  men  who  might  never 

jjjTj         agree  with  Mr.  Garrison  in  their  mode  of  action  in  behalf  of 

the  slave,  were  thoroughly  aroused  to  act,  each  in  his  own  way, 

and  they  never  ceased  and  never  will  cease  to  honor  and  revere 

the  man  whose  brave  words  dispelled  their  day-dreams." 

If  Mr.  Garrison  was  right  in  his  belief  that  the  Colo 
nization  Society  had  lulled  the  public  conscience  into  a 
fatal  slumber  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  to  expose  and 
discredit  it  was  clearly  the  first  step  towards  emancipa 
tion.1  The  iniquitous  system  had  concealed  itself  behind 
a  hypocritic  bulwark  of  charity  and  piety,  to  carry  which 
by  assault  was  the  instinct  of  true  generalship ;  and  this 
assault,  conducted  for  a  year  and  a  half  in  the  Liberator, 
reached  in  the  l  Thoughts 7  the  climax  of  weight  and  de- 
structiveness.  So  that,  although  the  debate  still  raged 
for  years,  and  though  the  i  Thoughts 7  was  promptly 
u  riddled7'  by  the  reviewers2  and  by  the  agents  and  sup- 
motive  of  the  Society — "to  get  rid  of  the  free  colored  people."  Immedi 
ately  on  receiving  the  'Thoughts'  he  wrote  to  the  author  (MS.  June  30, 
1832) :  "I  have  read  your  pamphlet  with  much  satisfaction.  ...  I  wish  it 
could  be  extensively  read,  but  it  will  take  a  long  time  to  get  into  circulation 
through  the  book-stores.  If  you  will  circulate  90  copies  and  send  me 
10,  I  will  pay  for  the  100,  and  you  may  draw  on  me  for  the  amount. 
You  will  send  the  90  to  whomsoever  you  think  best.  A  part  of  them  will 
be  [well]  placed  in  the  hands  of  presidents  and  professors  of  colleges  and 
seminaries,  and  in  the  reading-rooms  of  those  institutions."  On  the  other 
hand,  Gerrit  Smith's  change  was  sudden,  and  not  till  1835.  (See,  in  Froth- 
ingham's  '  Life/  pp.  162-170,  and  Lib.  6 : 23,  26. )  The  list,  too,  would  bear  ex 
tension.  For  example,  the  'Thoughts'  determined  the  life-work  of  the 
Rev.  James  Miller  McKim,  of  Pennsylvania,  and  secured  in  him  one  of  the 
most  efficient  and  judicious  advocates  of  the  anti-slavery  cause.  (See  p. 
656  of  Still's  '  Underground  Railroad,'  and  pp.  32,  33  of  Proceedings  of  the 
American  Anti-Slavery  Society,  Third  Decade.)  Its  effect  on  George 
Thompson,  of  England,  will  be  related  hereafter.  At  the  time  of  the 
appearance  of  the  '  Thoughts,'  Mr.  Wright  was  Professor  of  Mathematics 
and  Natural  Philosophy  in  the  Western  Reserve  College  at  Hudson,  O., 
and  so  a  colleague  of  President  Storrs  and  Professor  Green  (Lib.  3:2).  It 
should  be  mentioned  here  that  it  was  owing  exclusively  to  the  liberality  of 
Isaac  Winslow,  of  Portland,  that  Mr.  Garrison  was  enabled  to  publish  his 
'  Thoughts '  (MS.  Aug.  20,  1867,  to  Samuel  May,  Jr. ) 

1  See,  in  Lib.  4:29.  James  Cropper's  "The  Extinction  of  the  American 
Colonization  Society  the  First  Step  to  the  Abolition  of  Slavery." 

2  For  example,  in  the  African  Repository  for  November,  1832,  the  Metho 
dist  Magazine  and  Quarterly  Review  for  January,  1833,  and  the  Quarterly 
Christian  Spectator  for  March,  1833.     The  two  latter  articles  were  also  pub- 


JEt.  27.]  ANTI-COLONIZATION.  301 

porters  of  the  Society  in  their  addresses,  this  pamphlet    CHAP.  ix. 
marks  the  first  success  in  the  agitation  which  ended  in        ^^ 
the  abolition  of  slavery  by  civil  war.1     Viewed  in  this 
light,  and  not  merely  as  literature,  it  might  not  extrava 
gantly   be   ranked    as   the   most    important   work   ever 
produced  in  America  ;  to  which  Paine' s  *  Common  Sense' 
affords  the  nearest  parallel,  without  (in  the  nature  of  the 
case)    approaching    it    in   disinterestedness    and   moral 
fervor.     The  author  himself  said  of  it  on  the  eve  of  a 
second  edition,  a  year  and  a  half  after  its  appearance : 

u  This  work  has  excited  extraordinary  interest,  both  in  this  Lib.  3:207. 
country  and  in  England.  '  It  has  probably  created  more  sen 
sation^1  says  an  able  reviewer,  '  than  any  other  pamphlet,  except 
one,  ponderous  or  light,  which  has  issued  from  the  modern 
press.  To  say  nothing  of  its  secret  influence,  it  has  brought 
many  of  the  best  friends  of  the  Colonization  Society  to  avow  a 
suspense  of  judgment  in  regard  to  the  merits  of  the  scheme  which 
they  had  patronized  without  misgiving  for  fifteen  years ;  and 
it  has  raised  up  against  it  some  uncompromising  and  by  no 

lishecl  separately ;  the  last  —  written  by  the  Rev.  Leonard  Bacon  — by  A.  H. 
Maltby,  New  Haven.  (See  Lib.  3  :  27,  39,  43,  201.)  "Your  'Thoughts  on 
Colonization'  have  arrived,"  writes  S.  S.  Jocelyn  to  Mr.  Garrison,  July  12. 
"  Bacon  is  reading  one.  Prof.  Silliman  had  read  Mr.  Tappan's  previous  to 
his  delivering  his  colonization  address  on  the  4th.  I  handed  him  everything 
which  I  thought  would  moderate  his  zeal  in  that  cause  "  (MS.) 

1  "  I  look  upon  the  overthrow  of  the  Colonization  Society  as  the  overthrow 
of  slavery  itself  —  they  both  stand  or  fall  together."  So  wrote  Mr.  Gar 
rison  to  Henry  Benson,  July  21,  1832,  adding:  "Thus  far  my  'Thoughts 
on  African  Colonization '  have  been  noticed  by  various  newspapers  and  lit 
erary  magazines  in  terms  of  high  approbation  ;  and  I  am  gratified  to  find 
that  they  make  a  powerful  impression  wherever  they  are  perused."  The 
impression  and  the  favorable  comment  were  not  confined  to  this  country. 
Extracts  from  the  '  Thoughts '  were  freely  made  "  in  the  most  respectable 
periodical  publications  "  of  England  (Lib.  3 :  99).  A  formal  review  of  it  ap 
peared  in  the  British  Eclectic  Review,  the  organ  of  the  Nonconformists,  for 
Feb.,  1833,  p.  138.  The  work  was  eagerly  greeted  by  the  English  philan 
thropists  who  had  already  begun  to  unmask  and  to  thwart  the  Colonization 
agent,  Elliott  Cresson.  It  furnished  the  basis  of  Charles  Stuart's  '  Preju 
dice  Vincible '  (Liverpool :  printed  by  Egerton  Smith  &  Co.,  1832),  reprinted 
with  other  matter  in  a  pamphlet  published  by  Garrison  &  Knapp  in  1833, 
called  'British  Opinions  of  the  American  Colonization  Society.'  The  pre 
face  to  this  pamphlet  states  that  some  2750  copies  of  the  '  Thoughts  had 
been  disposed  of  in  nine  months.  For  a  British  reply,  see  Dr.  Thomas 
Hodgkin's  'An  Inquiry  into  the  Merits  of  the  American  Colonization 
Society,'  etc.  (London  :  J.  &  A.  Arch,  1833). 


302 


WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON. 


.  27. 


CHAP.  IX. 
l8~72 


Johnson's 


means  contemptible  enemies.'  Its  potency  consists  in  this,  — 
that,  discarding  every  accusation  or  objection  which  is  urged 
against  that  Society  by  its  assailants,  it  condemns  it  out  of  its 
own  mouth;  the  proofs  are  in  every  instance  furnished  by  its 
managers,  by  its  organ,  by  its  official  reports,  by  its  most  dis 
tinguished  supporters,  and  by  the  concurrent  testimony  of 
auxiliary  associations.  All  that  sophistry  or  misrepresentation 
could  effect,  to  overthrow  its  integrity,  has  been  attempted  in 
vain.  The  work,  as  a  whole,  stands  irrefutable."  l 

The  practical  use  of  the  '  Thoughts  '  was  as  an  arsenal 
of  facts  for  the  public  speakers  engaged  in  exposing  the 
pretensions  of  the  Colonization  Society.  This  task  had 
been  the  immediate  concern  of  the  New-England  Anti- 
Slavery  Society,  both  in  its  regular  and  special  meetings, 
and  through  its  president,  Arnold  Buffum,  and  other 
appointed  lecturers,  who  went  from  town  to  town  deliv 
ering  addresses  on  the  subject  of  slavery.  It  was  now 
made  comparatively  easy,  and  wherever  the  Colonization 
agents  moved  they  were  liable  to  be  confronted  by  irre 
fragable  proofs  of  the  duplicity  of  their  employers.  These 
in  their  turn  were  made  to  realize  that  the  individual 
opposition  of  a  "fanatical"  journalist  had  been  con 
verted  into  organized  antagonism,  all  the  more  formi 
dable  because  not  denominated  an  Anti-Colonization,  but 
(the  greater  including  the  less)  an  Anti-Slavery  Society. 

l  Both  the  logical  and  the  moral  weight  of  it  for  the  best  minds  may  be 
inferred  from  the  following  extract  from  a  letter  of  Gen.  Samuel  Fessenden 
to  Mr.  Garrison,  dated  Portland,  Dec.  14,  1832  (MS.)  :  "  Last  Monday  even 
ing  was  our  Law-Club  meeting,  and  I  had  the  great  satisfaction  of  hearing 
Judge  Mellen,  our  Chief  Justice,  say  he  had  read  your  'Thoughts,'  was  a 
thorough  convert  to  your  views,  and  was  ready  to  do  all  in  his  power  to 
promote  them.  Mr.  Longfellow  was  present  also,  and  with  equal  warmth 
and  clearness  expressed  himself  also  in  favor  of  your  views.  This  is  getting 
the  two  first  men  in  the  State  for  talents  and  influence  in  benevolent  effort. 
I  have  no  doubt  they  will  head  the  list  of  those  who  will  subscribe  to  form 
here  an  anti-slavery  society.  Mr.  Greenleaf,  also,  will  cordially  come  in, 
and  I  need  not  say  he  is  one  of  the  first  [inenj  in  the  State,  for  his  char 
acter  is  known."  The  reference  here  is  to  the  Hon.  Stephen  Longfellow, 
father  of  the  poet,  who  had  been  a  delegate  to  the  Hartford  Convention,  and 
a  Representative  from  Maine  in  the  18th  Congress  (1823-25)  ;  and  to  Simon 
Greenleaf,  the  eminent  jurist,  shortly  to  be  law  professor  at  the  Harvard 
School,  and  eventually  the  successor  of  Story. 


^T.  27.]  ANTI- COLONIZATION.  303 

This  was  all  the  harder  to  bear  because  the  Southamp-    CHAP.  ix. 
ton  insurrection  had  not  produced  for  the  Colonization        -^^ 
Society  precisely  the   fruits  which  it  anticipated.     The 
year  opened   (amid  the  gratifying  enactment  of  panic 
legislation    in    both    sections    concerning    the   colored 
population,  bond  and  free)  with  its  annual  meeting  in 
Washington,  at  which  letters  were  read  from  Marshall 
and  Madison,  and  speeches  made  by  Edward  Everett  — 
"  the  same  benevolent  gentleman  who,  a  few  years  since,    Lib.  2:15; 
declared  on  the  floor  of  Congress  that,  in  the  event  of  a    ant'e^^. 
negro  rebellion  at  the  South,  he  would  promptly  put  on 
his  knapsack  and  shoulder  his  musket  to  put  the  slaves 
down  "  ;  and  by  the  Eev.  Leonard  Bacon,  of  New  Haven, 
whose  theme  was  "  the  strictly  ^benevolent  character  of  the 
Society,"  and  who  had  already  elsewhere  publicly  pledged 
the  Vermont  and  Connecticut  militia  to  the  same  noble 
mission  which  Mr.  Everett  assumed  for  himself.1     Clark- 
son,  now  almost  blind,  was  reported  to  have  listened  with    Lib.  2: 23. 
enthusiastic  delight  to  the  details  of  the  Society's  opera 
tions  as  related  by  Elliott  Cresson,  its  Quaker  travelling 
agent  in  England.     In  April,  a  memorial  purporting  to 
come  from  its  British  membership,  and  supported  and 
forwarded  by  the  same  Cresson,  asking  national  aid  for 
the  Society,  was  presented  in  the  House  of  Representa-    Lib.  2:59; 
tives ;  but  in  this  the  Society  overreached  itself.     Polk,    ter,  42  :1#~ 
of  Tennessee,  denounced  it  as  the  first  foreign  effort  to    z.u?l':6i. 
intermeddle  with  the  subject  of  slavery  in  Congress,  and 
as  an  act  of  impertinence ;  and  its  reading  was  opposed 
by  all  the  Southern   members  except  General   Blair,  of 
South  Carolina,  who  professed  entire  indifference.     "  A 
disposition  to  tamper  with  the  slave  question  had  been 

iMr.  Bacon  alluded  pointedly  to  Mr.  Garrison  as  one  of  those  "men 
whom  nature  has  endowed  with  such  talents  as  equip  a  demagogue,  and 
with  whom  it  seems  an  object  worth  ambition  to  lead  the  free  people  of 
color,  and  to  receive  the  homage  of  their  applause."  Mr.  Garrison  had 
also  his  word  for  Mr.  Bacon  (Lib.  3  :  201) :  "No  writer  in  the  United  States, 
no  slaveholder  in  the  South,  has  uttered  or  published  more  excusatory, 
corrupt,  and  blasphemous  sentiments  as  regards  slavery  than  this  indi 
vidual."  Citations  follow. 


304 


WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAKEISON. 


27. 


CHAP.  ix.  manifested,  and  he  cared  not  how  soon  gentlemen  played 
1832.  the  game  out.  .  .  .  He  could  tell  gentlemen  that 
when  they  moved  that  question  seriously,  they  from  the 
South  would  meet  it  elsewhere.  It  would  not  be  disputed 
in  that  House  but  in  the  open  field,  where  powder  and 
cannon  would  be  their  orators,  and  their  arguments  lead 
and  steel."  The  memorial  was  withdrawn,  and  the  So 
ciety  found  itself  willy-nilly  in  the  category  of  danger 
ous  agitators  of  what  its  friends  were  accustomed  to 

Thoughts  on    style  an  "  important  and  delicate  question,"  an  "  interest- 

%3,  45.  *'   ing  and  fearful  subject."     On  the  heels  of  this  unex 
pected  discomfiture,  Mr.  Garrison  flung  down  his  gage, 

£#.2:193.    which  the  Society  dared  not  pick  up  for  the  space  of 
six  months. 

The  Liberator,  on  the  other  hand,  gave  every  outward 
sign  of  prosperity.  The  last  number  of  the  first  volume 
had  gathered  up,  for  a  parting  broadside,  all  the  se 
lected  testimonials,  domestic  and  foreign,  against  slavery 
which  had  been  published  in  weekly  instalments  during 
the  year.  The  new  volume  exhibited  an  enlargement  by 
nearly  two-thirds,  with  five  columns  to  the  page  instead 
of  four,  and  these  both  broader  and  longer,  but  with  no 
change  in  the  subscription  price.1  The  pictorial  heading 
remained  unaltered,  and,  probably  derived  from  an  Eng 
lish  source,  a  series  of  woodcuts  illustrating  the  iniquities 
of  slavery  began  to  be  interspersed  with  the  text.  One 
of  these  represented  a  kneeling  female  slave,  surmounted 
by  the  familiar  legend,  "  Am  I  not  a  Woman  and  a  Sis 
ter  ?  "  and  was  made  the  occasion,  in  the  first  number,  of 
opening  a  "  Ladies'  Department"  (after  the  example  of 
the  Genius),  as  likely  to  enhance  the  interest  of  the 
Liberator,  "  and  give  a  new  impetus  to  the  cause  of 
emancipation."  The  editor  could  not  believe  his  coun 
trywomen  to  be  less  philanthropic  or  less  influential 
than  their  British  sisters,  who  were  heartily  engaged  in 

l  "I  think  the  Liberator  one  of  the  handsomest  papers  I  have  seen," 
wrote  S.  J.  May,  March  16,  1832,  who  accordingly  closely  followed  it  as  a 
model  in  founding  at  that  date  his  Christian  Monitor. 


Lib.  2  :  2. 


^ET.  27.]  ANTI- COLONIZATION.  305 

the  effort  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  colonies.    To  this  sub-    CHAP.  ix. 
ject  he  returned  later  in  the  following  language  :  !8^>. 

"Two  capital  errors  have  extensively  prevailed,  greatly  to  Lib. 2:110. 
the  detriment  of  the  cause  of  abolition.  The  first  is,  a  prone- 
ness  on  the  part  of  the  advocates  of  immediate  and  universal 
emancipation  to  overlook  or  depreciate  the  influence  of  woman 
in  the  promotion  of  this  cause ;  and  the  other  is,  a  similar  dis 
position  on  the  part  of  the  females  in  our  land  to  undervalue 
their  own  power,  or,  through  a  misconception  of  duty,  to 
excuse  themselves  from  engaging  in  the  enterprise.  These 
errors,  we  repeat,  are  capital,  and  should  no  longer  be  suffered 
to  prevail.  The  cause  of  bleeding  humanity  is  always,  legiti 
mately,  the  cause  of  WOMAN.  Without  her  powerful  assistance, 
its  progress  must  be  slow,  difficult,  imperfect. 

"  A  million  females,  in  this  country,  are  recognized  and  held 
as  property — liable  to  be  sold  or  used  for  the  gratification  of 
the  lust  or  avarice  or  convenience  of  unprincipled  speculators  — 
without  the  least  protection  for  their  chastity — cruelly  scourged 
for  the  most  trifling  offences — and  subjected  to  unseemly  and 
merciless  tasks,  to  severe  privations,  and  to  brutish  ignorance  ! 
Have  these  no  claims  upon  the  sympathies — prayers — chari 
ties —  exertions  of  our  white  countrywomen  ?  .  .  . 

"  '  WJwn  woman1  s  heart  is  Needing, 

Shall  ivomari's  voice  be  hushed  ? '  "  1 

The  most  important  extraneous  feature  of  the  second 
volume  of  the  Liberator  was  the  republication  of  'Letters  Lib.  2: 133- 
on  American  Slavery,  addressed  to  Mr.  Thomas  Rankin, 
merchant  at  Middlebrook,  Augusta  Co.,  Va.,  by  John 
Rankin,  Pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Churches  of  Ripley 
and  Strait  Creek,  Brown  County,  Ohio/  of  which  the 
first  edition  was  published  at  Ripley,  in  the  latter  State, 
in  1826.2  Mr.  Garrison  pronounced  them  "  among  the 
most  faithful  and  thrilling  productions  we  have  read  on 

1  Not  long  after  this,  Oct.   14,  1832,  the  Boston  Female  Anti-Slavery 
Society  was  founded  by  twelve  ladies  ('Right  and  Wrong  in  Boston,'  1 
(1836):  4,  9). 

2  The  letters  themselves  appear  to  have  been  written  in  1824,  when  their 
author  was  about  31  years  of  age.     Following  the  reprint  in  the  Liberator, 
an  edition  in  book  form  was  put  forth  by  Garrison  &  Kiiapp  in  1833,  and  a 
fifth  edition  was  published  by  Isaac  Knapp  as  late  as  1838.     Still  another 
edition  bears  the  imprint  of  Charles  Whipple,  Newburyport,  1836. 

VOL.  I.—  20 


306  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GARRISON.  [^T.  27. 


CHAP.  ix.  the  subject  of  slavery."  They  were  privately  addressed 
1832.  by  the  writer  to  his  brother,  and  are  full  of  fraternal 
concern  and  tenderness,  while  unsparing  in  their  exhibi 
tion  of  the  essentially  sinful,  unchristian  and  cruel 
nature  of  slavery.  Long  residence  in  Tennessee  and 
Kentucky1  had  made  him  familiar  with  the  system 
against  which  his  heart  revolted.  No  more  forcible 
argument  resting  upon  common  morality,  the  Scrip 
tures,  and  political  economy,  could  have  been  framed 
for  the  time,  or  perhaps  for  all  time,  while  some  of 
the  well-authenticated  instances  of  slaveholding  atrocity 
could  be  surpassed  only  in  the  dreams  of  a  Nero.2 
The  l  Letters  '  became  at  once  a  powerful  addition 
to  the  weapons  of  the  abolitionists,  and  never  ceased 
to  be  cited.  Mr.  Garrison's  knowledge  of  Mr.  Eankin 
appears  to  have  begun  at  the  time  of  their  repub- 
lication  in  the  Liberator.  It  was  also  the  beginning 
of  personal  acquaintance  and  friendship,  as  witnessed 
by  the  following  inscription  in  a  copy  of  his  works 
presented  by  the  former  to  Mr.  Rankin  in  Cincinnati 
in  1853  —  "With  the  profound  regards  and  loving  vene 
ration  of  his  anti-slavery  disciple  and  humble  co-worker 
in  the  cause  of  emancipation."  3 

Lib.i\\,and  The  i  Letters  '  had  that  "  Scriptural  pungency"  which 
13  i&to  Mr.  Garrison  found  lacking  in  Evan  Lewis's  4  prize 
July  ii,  tract  on  i  The  Duties  of  Ministers  and  Churches  of  all 

1031,  to 

E.  Dole.  Denominations  to  avoid  the  Stain  of  Slavery,'  etc.,  but 
which  so  abounded  in  the  Rev.  George  Bourne's  t  The 
Book  and  Slavery  Irreconcilable'  (1815),  to  which,  next 
after  the  Bible  itself,  Mr.  Garrison  confessed  his  indebt 
edness  for  his  views  of  the  institution.5  Perhaps  no 

1  Rankin  was  born  in  Tennessee  (Lib.  5  :  69). 

2  Yet  one  of  these,  and  the  most  shocking,  involved  a  nephew  of  Thomas 
Jefferson.     See  Letter  viii. 

3  See,  also,  p.  14  of  Proceedings  of  the  Am.  A.-S.  Society  at  its  Third 
Decade. 

4  Editor  of  a  Quaker  anti-slavery  journal  called  the  Advocate  of  Truth. 

5  Like  Rankin,  Osborn,  and  other  early  emancipationists,  Bourne  had 
seen  slavery  face  to  face  (in  Virginia).    For  tributes  to  his  zeal  and  courage 
from  Garrison  and  Lundy,  see  Lib.  2:35,  43,  133  ;  3:  182. 


MT.  27.]  ANTI- COLONIZATION.  307 

sight  was  more  gratifying  to  him  than  that  of  a  minister    CHAP.  ix. 
of  the  gospel  appealing  to  "  the  Book "  against  African        ^2. 
bondage.     For  this  he  could  overlook  theological  differ 
ences  as  great  as  those  which  separated  him  from  his 
Unitarian  friend  Mr.  May,  and  which  are  measured  by    Lib.  2 : 67. 
his  eulogy  of  a  '  Dissertation  on  the  Subject  of  Future 
Punishment,  by  Oliver  Johnson,  Editor  of  the  Christian    Lib.  2:40. 
Soldier '  —  "a  logical,  persuasive   and    solemn   treatise, 
clearly    establishing    the    desperate    folly    and    absurd 
philosophy  of  the  doctrine  of  universal  salvation." 

Besides  his  formal  discourses  to  the  free  people  of 
color,  Mr.  Garrison  addressed  to  them,  on  the  eve  of 
their  Philadelphia  National  Convention,  an  editorial 
article  counselling  them  to  continue  firm  in  their  resist 
ance  to  the  Colonization  Society,  and  cheering  them  with 
the  assurance  —  "I  tell  you  fearlessly  and  truly  that  you  Lib.  2. •.  83. 
ought  rather  to  rejoice  than  despond.  Your  cause  is  on 
the  advance  —  notwithstanding  the  sombre  aspect  of  the 
times,  it  is,  I  say,  ON  THE  ADVANCE  !  ...  It  is  the 
purpose  of  God,  I  am  firmly  persuaded,  to  humble  the 
pride  of  the  American  people  by  rendering  your  expul 
sion  impracticable,  and  the  necessity  for  your  admission 
to  equal  rights  imperative."  "Be  your  rallying  cry  — 
UNION  AND  OUR  COUNTRY  ! "  By  "  Union  "  he,  of  course, 
meant  harmonious  action  among  the  colored  people 
themselves  ;  not  that  Union,  and  less  and  less  every  day 
that  Constitution,  for  which  Webster  went  as  they 
were1  —  slave  representation  and  all  —  saying:  "It  is 
the  original  bargain,  the  compact ;  let  it  stand."  At  the 
close  of  the  year  his  sentiments  in  regard  to  the  unholy 
alliance  between  freedom  and  slavery  were  unmistakably 
expressed  in  these  terms : 

"  There  is   much  declamation  about  the  sacredness  of  the    Lib.  2 : 207. 
compact  which  was  formed  between  the  free  and  slave  States, 
on  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution.     A  sacred  compact,  for 
sooth  !     We  pronounce  it  the  most  bloody  and  heaven-daring 

l  "  I  go  for  the  Constitution  as  it  is,  and  for  the  Union  as  it  is  "  (Second 
speech  on  Foot's  Resolution,  Jan.  26,  1830). 


308  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARKISON.  [M-r.  27. 

CHAP.  IX.  arrangement  ever  made  by  men  for  the  continuance  and  pro- 
TjjT2  tection  of  a  system  of  the  most  atrocious  villany  ever  exhibited 
on  earth.  Yes — we  recognize  the  compact,  but  with  feelings 
of  shame  and  indignation  ;  and  it  will  be  held  in  everlasting 
infamy  by  the  friends  of  justice  and  humanity  throughout  the 
world.  It  was  a  compact  formed  at  the  sacrifice  of  the  bodies 
and  souls  of  millions  of  our  race,  for  the  sake  of  achieving  a 
political  object — an  unblushing  and  monstrous  coalition  to  do 
evil  that  good  might  come.  Such  a  compact  was,  in  the  nature 
of  things  and  according  to  the  law  of  God,  null  and  void  from 
the  beginning.  No  body  of  men  ever  had  the  right  to  guarantee 
the  holding  of  human  beings  in  bondage. 

"Who  or  what  were  the  framers  of  our  Government  that 
they  should  dare  confirm  and  authorize  such  high-handed 
villany  —  such  a  flagrant  robbery  of  the  inalienable  rights  of 
man  —  such  a  glaring  violation  of  all  the  precepts  and  injunc 
tions  of  the  gospel  —  such  a  savage  war  upon  a  sixth  part  of 
our  whole  population1?  They  were  men,  like  ourselves — as 
fallible,  as  sinful,  as  weak,  as  ourselves.  By  the  infamous 
bargain  which  they  made  between  themselves,  they  virtually 
dethroned  the  Most  High  God,  and  trampled  beneath  their 
feet  their  own  solemn  and  heaven-attested  Declaration,  that  all 
men  are  created  equal,  and  endowed  by  their  Creator  with 
certain  inalienable  rights — among  which  are  life,  liberty,  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness.  They  had  no  lawful  power  to  bind 
themselves  or  their  posterity  for  one  hour — for  one  moment — 
by  such  an  unholy  alliance.  It  was  not  valid  then — it  is  not 
valid  now.  Still  they  persisted  in  maintaining  it — and  still  do 
their  successors,  the  people  of  Massachusetts,  of  New  England, 
and  of  the  twelve  free  States,  persist  in  maintaining  it.  A 
sacred  compact !  a  sacred  compact !  What,  then,  is  wicked 
and  ignominious  *? " 

"It  is  said  that  if  you  agitate  this  question  you  will  divide 
the  Union.  Believe  it  not;  but  should  disunion  follow,  the 
fault  will  not  be  yours.  You  must  perform  your  duty,  faith 
fully,  fearlessly  and  promptly,  and  leave  the  consequences  to 
God:  that  duty  clearly  is,  to  cease  from  giving  countenance 
and  protection  to  Southern  kidnappers.  Let  them  separate,  if 
they  can  muster  courage  enough — and  the  liberation  of  their 
slaves  is  certain.  Be  assured  that  slavery  will  very  speedily 
destroy  this  Union  if  it  be  let  alone  ;  but  even  if  the  Union  can 
be  preserved  by  treading  upon  the  necks,  spilling  the  blood, 
and  destroying  the  souls  of  millions  of  your  race,  we  say  it  is 


^T.  27.]  ANTI- COLONIZATION.  309 

not  worth  a  price  like  this,  and  that  it  is  in  the  highest  degree    CHAP.  IX. 
criminal  for  you  to  continue  the  present  compact.     Let  the         ^2 
pillars  thereof  fall — let  the  superstructure  crumble  into  dust — 
if  it  must  be  upheld  by  robbery  and  oppression." 

"  The  domestic  slavery  of  the  Southern  States,"  Mr. 
Webster  had  said  in  the  speech  already  cited,  "  I  leave 
where  I  find  it,  —  in  the  hands  of  their  own  governments. 
It  is  their  affair,  not  mine."  Quite  otherwise  Mr.  Gar 
rison,  in  the  first  number  of  the  volume,  reaffirming  the 
guilt  of  slaveholders  over  and  above  their  inheritance, 
and  the  guilt  of  New  Englanders  with  reference  (1)  to  the 
maintenance  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and 
(2)  to  their  obligation  to  suppress  slave  insurrections, 
declared : 

"So  long  as  we  continue  one  body  —  a  union— a  nation—  Lib.  2:1. 
the  compact  involves  us  in  the  guilt  and  danger  of  slavery. 
.  .  .  What  protects  the  South  from  instant  destruction  f 
OUR  PHYSICAL  FORCE.  Break  the  chain  which  binds  her  to  the 
Union,  and  the  scenes  of  St.  Domingo  would  be  witnessed 
throughout  her  borders.  She  may  affect  to  laugh  at  this 
prophecy;  but  she  knows  that  her  security  lies  in  Northern 
bayonets.1  Nay,  she  has  repeatedly  taunted  the  free.  States 
with  being  pledged  to  protect  her.  .  .  .  How,  then,  do  we 
make  the  inquiry,  with  affected  astonishment,  i  What  have  we 
to  do  with  the  guilt  of  slavery  ? '  " 

This  inquiry  rested  much  less  heavily  with  Mr.  Garri 
son's  townsmen,  especially  the  respectable  and  then 
ruling  portion,  than  this  other :  "  How  shall  we  justify 
ourselves  to  our  Southern  brethren  for  tolerating  the 
Liberator  f  "  Accordingly,  at  the  opening  of  the  March 
term  of  the  Municipal  Court  in  Boston,  Judge  Thacher 
charged  the  Grand  Jury  that  it  "is  an  offence  against  Lib.  2:55. 
the  peace  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  that  it  may  be 
prosecuted  as  a  misdemeanor  at  common  law,  ...  to 
publish  books,  pamphlets,  or  newspapers,  designed  to  be 

l  "What  madness  in  the  South  to  look  for  greater  safety  in  disunion !  It 
would  be  worse  than  jumping  out  of  the  frying-pan  into  the  fire.  It  would 
be  jumping  into  the  fire  from  a  fear  of  the  frying-pan  [L  e.,  Northern  med 
dling  with  slavery]  "  (Ex-President  Madison  to  Henry  Clay,  June,  1833, 
in  Colton's  '  Private  Correspondence  of  Clay/  p.  365). 


310  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON. 

CHAP.  ix.  circulated  here  and  in  other  States  of  the  Union,  and 
jsja.  having  a  direct  and  necessary  tendency  to  excite  in  the 
minds  of  our  own  citizens  deadly  hatred  and  hostility 
against  their  brethren  of  other  States,  and  to  stimulate  the 
slave  population  there  to  rise  against  their  masters,  and 
to  effect  by  fire  and  sword  their  emancipation."  If  allowed 
to  be  published  and  circulated  freely  here,  "  may  not  the 
citizens  of  those  States  well  imagine  that  such  publica 
tions  are  authorized  by  our  laws?"  Judge  Thacher 
found  the  law  of  libel  elastic  enough  to  suit  his  purpose : 

Lib.  2 : 118.  "  In  that  country  from  which  we  drew  our  principles  of  juris 
prudence,  it  is  laid' down  by  the  highest  judicial  authority,  that 
every  publication  which  has  a  tendency  to  promote  public  mis 
chief,  whether  by  causing  irritation  in  the  minds  of  the  people 
that  may  induce  them  to  commit  a  breach  of  the  public  peace, 
or  whether  it  be  more  public  and  specific,  extending  to  the 
morals,  the  religion,  or  magistracy  of  the  country,  is  a  libel. 
Any  publication  which  tends  to  degrade,  revile  and  defame 
persons  in  considerable  situations  of  power  and  dignity  in  for 
eign  countries,  is  taken  to  be  and  treated  as  a  libel ;  and  par 
ticularly  where  it  has  a  tendency  to  interrupt  the  pacific  relations 
between  the  two  countries.  If  the  publication  contains  a  plain 
and  manifest  incitement  and  persuasion  addressed  to  others,  to 
assassinate  and  destroy  the  persons  of  such  magistrates,  as  the 
tendency  is  to  interrupt  the  harmony  of  the  two  countries,  the 
libel  assumes  a  still  more  criminal  character." 

An  extract  from  this  charge  was  copied  into  the  Lib 
erator  without  comment  from  Mr.  Garrison,  who  some 
*  time  afterwards  makes  a  single  allusion  to  it  as  "  absurd 

Lib.  2 : 119  and  dangerous,"  and  notices  that  it  "  has  been  hailed  with 
joy  by  the  whole  tribe  of  Southern  men-stealers  and  their 
insane  apologists  at  the  North."  "  Such  doctrines,"  ex 
claimed  the  Milledgeville  (Ga.)  Journal,  "  will  stand  the 
test  of  all  time."  But  Mr.  Garrison  did  not  underrate 
their  value :  they  were  obsolete  as  soon  as  uttered.  Pro- 

Lib.  2 : 69.  tests  were  raised  against  the  charge  in  the  Boston  Com 
mercial  Gazette,  and,  after  its  appearance  in  full  in  the 
quarterly  American  Jurist,  in  the  newly-founded  Boston 
Atlas;  the  former  writer  pointing  out  that  if  a  mere 


^T.  27.]  ANTI- COLONIZATION.  311 

tendency,  apart  from  intent,  was   sufficient  to  make  a    CHAP.  ix. 
misdemeanor,  the  same  doctrine  was   applicable  to  the        ^2i 
tariff  discussion  and  even  to  the  Massachusetts  Bill  of 
Rights.     The  writer  in  the  Atlas,  who  signed  himself 
"  Z.  Z.,"  and  was,  we  are  told,  a  "  highly  estimable  and   Lib.  2:118. 
intelligent  member  of  the  bar/7  dissected  the  charge  in 
five  well-considered    articles,   which   were    successively   Li6.s-.n8, 
reproduced  in  the  Liberator.    In  conclusion  it  was  shown  '  ^'i^!*3' 
why  the  North  might  lawfully  examine  the  subject  of 
slavery,  by  which  it  was  affected  in  so  many  ways — as,  in 
its  liability  to  help  put  down  revolt,  its  exposure  to  kid 
napping,  its  share  in  the  regulation  of  the  District  of 
Columbia,  its  right  to  oppose  the  admission   of  slave 
States,  etc. 

Little  did  Governor  Floyd  of  Virginia,  recommending 
the  Legislature  in  December  to  protect  the  sovereignty  of 
the  State  against  publications  in  Boston,  New  York  and 
other  places  "  calculated  and  tending  [Judge  Thacher's  Lib.  2 : 199. 
word]  to  inflame  the  slave  population  of  the  United 
States,  and  incite  them  to  insurrection";  little  did  the 
Colonization  Society,  dream  that  the  thunderbolts  forged 
against  itself  had  nearly  cost  the  Liberator  its  life : 

"  It  was  with  much  delicacy  of  feeling,"  writes  Mr.  Garrison  MS. 
to  Robert  Purvis,  Dec.  10,  1832,  "  and  a  strong  reluctance,  that 
we  addressed  our  Circular  to  some  of  our  Philadelphia  friends, 
conscious  how  much  they  had  done  to  give  stability  to  the 
Liberator.  But  we  had  but  this  hard  alternative  —  either  to 
suffer  the  paper  to  die,  or  make  known  the  embarrassments 
into  which  the  publication  of  our  *  Thoughts '  had  unavoidably 
plunged  us.  The  idea  of  the  suppression  of  the  Liberator  was 
to  us  as  dreadful  almost  as  the  cutting  off  a  right  hand,  or 
plucking  out  a  right  eye.  How  would  Southern  kidnappers 
and  their  apologists  shout !  What  a  prodigious  shock  would 
be  given  to  the  lively  sensibilities  of  the  friends  of  humanity  in 
every  part  of  the  nation!  What  extensive  injury  would  be 
done  to  the  abolition  cause  !  With  what  exultations  would  its 
overthrow  be  hailed  by  the  Colonization  leaders ! 

"  I  am  happy  to  inform  you  that  the  appeal  we  put  forth  to 
our  friends  will  not  be  in  vain.  Already  we  are  enabled  to 
assure  you  that  there  is  no  cause  for  apprehension  in  regard  to 


312 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON. 


.  27. 


CHAP.  IX.    the  continuance  of  the  Liberator.     The  extraordinary  purchase 
l8"T2         of  so  large  a  number  of  copies  of  our  '  Thoughts '  in  Philadelphia 


Joseph 
Cassey. 


James 
Forten. 


MS.,  Dec. 
10,  1832. 


as  has  been  ordered  by  our  friends  Cassey,  Forten,  and  your 
self,  has  given  us  material  assistance;  and  the  response  in 
other  places  is  beginning  to  come  back  in  a  very  encouraging 
manner.  The  entire  edition  will  probably  soon  be  taken  up, 
the  distribution  of  which,  I  am  confident,  will,  more  than  any 
thing  else,  put  an  end  to  the  Colonization  mania.  You  will 
please  to  convey  to  your  noble  father-in-law,  for  me  and  my 
partner,  all  that  hearts  filled  with  gratitude,  and  keenly 
susceptible,  may  be  supposed  to  utter."  l 

Similar  details  are  contained  in  a  letter  of  the  same 
date  addressed  to  George  "W.  Benson,  of  Providence,  who, 
together  with  his  brother  and  other  friends,  had  in 
response  to  the  Circular  ordered  two  hundred  copies  of 
the  <  Thoughts ' : 

"  I  am  sure  it  will  give  you  true  satisfaction  to  be  informed 
that  the  prospects  of  the  Liberator,  which,  three  weeks  ago, 
were  dark  and  discouraging,  are  now  bright  and  cheering ! 
The  appeal  which  we  put  forth  to  our  friends,  in  various  places, 
has  been  answered  in  a  manner  that  shows  a  deep  attachment 


for  the  Liberator.2 


The  distribution  of  these  [remaining] 


1  Two  days  later,  Dec.  12,  1832,  Arthur  Tappan  writes  :  "  What  progress 
is  made  in  the  sale  of  your  '  Remarks  '  ?    The  free  colored  people  should  be 
urged  to  effort  to  relieve  you.     If  you  can  find  purchasers  for  900  of  those 
now  on  hand,  I  will  pay  for  the  remaining  100  of  a  thousand,  but  the  900 
must  first  be  disposed  of,  as  I  cannot  do  this  in  addition  to  those  I  have 
previously  paid  for  unless  the  relief  is  effectual.     I  shall  want  a  part  of  the 
100  for  my  own  distribution,  and  shall  expect  that  the  balance  will  be  dis 
tributed  soon."    At  the  same  time  he  orders  two  copies  of  the  Liberator  to 
be  sent  to  Lane  Seminary  and  Western  Reserve  College  respectively,  at 
his  expense. 

2  This  was  nowhere  more  strongly  manifested  than  in  Portland.    Nathan 
Winslow  writes,  Nov.  24,  1832:  "I  am  authorized  by  thy  friends  here  to 
say  the  amount  needful  shall  be  forthcoming  when  wanted.    ...    I  have 
shown  thy  circular  to  several  of  thy  friends,  all  of  whom  are  zealous  in  the 
cause.     Thou  mayst  rank  Gen.  Fessenden  among  the  first.     .     .     .     Thy 
female  friends  would  forego  many  of  their  comforts,  rather  than  the  Lib 
erator  should  go  down."    Isaac  Winslow's  response  was  equally  character 
istic  (Dec.  6) :  "Enclosed  you  have  an  order  on  the  Bank  of  the  U.  S.  at 
one  day's  sight  for  $500,  dated  Dec.  5th,  1832,  No.  904,  for  which  amount 
you  may  forward  me  your  note  when  convenient."    This  note  has  been 
preserved,  and  is  endorsed:  "4  mo.  11,  1840.    Received  payment  in  full 
of  W.  L,  G.    I.  Winslow." 


.ET.  27.]  ANTI-COLONIZATION.  313 

copies  [of  the '  Thoughts ']  cannot  fail  to  open  the  eyes  of  many  CHAP.  IX. 
good  people,  who  through  ignorance  are  giving  their  influence  i~ 
and  money  to  aid  the  Colonization  Society.  The  deathlike 
silence  which  has  reigned  among  the  leaders  of  the  crusade 
since  the  appearance  of  the  work,  very  plainly  shows  that  they 
are  unable  to  disprove  its  allegations.  Surely  six  months 
furnish  a  space  amply  sufficient  to  make  a  reply ;  and  I  know 
if  they  could,  by  any  possibility,  put  me  down,  they  would  do 
so.  The  book,  then,  being  a  just  exposition  of  Colonization 
principles,  it  behooves  every  lover  of  truth,  every  friend  of 
humanity,  every  disciple  of  Jesus  Christ,  to  read  it  carefully, 
and  understand  the  nature  and  design  of  the  Colonization 
Society.  You  will  have  seen,  by  the  last  Liberator,  the  weak  Lib.  2 : 193. 
and  beggarly  manner  in  which  R.  R.  Gurley  attempts  to  invali 
date  the  work.  I  will  not  leave  him  till  I  have  shown  that 
every  position  he  has  assumed  is  utterly  untenable." 

A  few  more  extracts  from  Mr.  Garrison's  private  cor 
respondence  will  fitly  close  the  present  chapter.  In  Ms 
June  letter  to  Mr.  Purvis,  reference  is  made  to  a  project 
partly  fulfilled  by  the  subsequent  tour  along  the  New 
England  seaboard : 

"  It  is  possible  that  I  may  succeed  in  making  arrangements  MS.  June 
by  and  bye  to  travel  through  the  free  States,  for  the  purpose 
of  vindicating  the  rights  of  the  free  people  of  color,  and  form 
ing  anti-slavery  societies.  I  am  persuaded  that  I  can  do  more 
to  advance  the  cause  by  this  method  in  a  few  months  than  by 
any  other  for  a  series  of  years.  I  suggested  the  enterprise  to 
Arthur  Tappan  and  the  Rev.  Peter  Williams,  of  New  York 
City,  and  they  highly  approved  of  it.  The  only  difficulty  is, 
the  procurement  of  means  wherewith  to  pay  my  travelling 
expenses.  Mr.  Williams  said  he  could  be  responsible  for  $100, 
and  I  presume  Mr.  Tappan  will  be  disposed  to  contribute  for 
the  same  purpose.  Mr.  Tappan  thought  I  might  do  a  great 
deal  to  promote  education  among  colored  children  and  youth, 
by  addressing  the  people  of  color,  giving  them  advice  and 
encouragement,  examining  their  schools,  and  endeavoring  to 
establish  others,  &c.,  &c.  Should  I  go  on  such  a  mission,  (and 
I  earnestly  desire  to  prosecute  it,)  I  shall  aim  first  at  the  great 
cities,  and  thus  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  my  Philadelphia 
friends  in  the  course  of  a  few  months.  I  can  leave  the 
Liberator  in  excellent  hands." 


314  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GAKKISON.  lyE-r.  27. 

To  Henry  Egbert  Benson,  July  21,  1832 : 

MS.  "  Start,  if  you  can,  an  auxiliary  Anti- Slavery  Society  in 

Providence.  And  why  may  you  not?  There  are  at  least 
friends  Brewer,  Chace,  your  brother  and  yourself,  all  seeing, 
thinking,  acting  alike.  You  need  no  more  to  begin  with.  Four 
men  may  revolutionize  the  world.  Besides,  the  mere  fact  that 
such  a  society  has  been  formed  will  help  us  here  in  Boston 
hugely." 

To  Samuel  J.  May,  December  4,  1832 : 

MS.  "  Our  cause  goes  on  prosperously.     Indeed,  when  I  consider 

the  brevity  of  the  period  in  which  we  have  been  engaged,  and 
the  nature  and  number  of  the  obstacles  which  towered  in 
our  path,  I  am  surprised  to  observe  the  impression  we  have 
made  upon  the  nation. 

"  Our  coadjutors  in  England  are  fighting  most  manfully, 
with  spiritual  weapons,  against  sin  and  cruelty.  I  have  just 
received  from  them  a  large  bundle  of  anti-slavery  pamphlets, 
tracts,  circulars,  &c.,  the  perusal  of  which  is  almost  too  much 
for  my  poor  nerves.  The  British  abolitionists  waste  no  ammu 
nition —  every  shot  tells — they  write  in  earnest — they  call,  as  did 
old  John  Knox,  a  fig  a  fig,  and  a  spade  a  spade.  When  I  see 
what  they  are  doing,  and  read  what  they  write,  I  blush  to 
think  of  my  own  past  apathy,  and  mourn  in  view  of  my  poverty 
of  thought  and  language." 

To  Robert  Purvis,  December  10,  1832 : 

MS.  u  This  is  my  twenty-eighth  birthday  I1    I  am  startled  at  the 

hurricane  speed  of  time.  My  life  seems  to  me  to  have  been  a 
blank.  The  older  I  grow,  the  less  do  I  seem  to  accomplish. 
Days  and  weeks  vanish  like  flashes  of  light  upon  a  sombre  sky, 
and  seem  to  diminish  to  the  duration  of  moments.  I  am 
twenty-eight !  Infancy  passed  away  unheedingly — passively  j 
childhood  in  frolic  and  sports,  in  smiles  and  tears ;  boyhood  in 
the  school-room,  and  abroad  in  the  fields,  and  in  venturesome 
but  forbidden  excursions  upon  the  river  j  youth  in  mechanical 
toil,  assisted  by  dreams  of  future  happiness  and  cheered  by  the 
phantom  Hope;  and  now— what!  has  it  come  to  this?  —  Yes, 
now  I  have  struck  deep  into  manhood !  Well,  then,  manhood 
shall  be  my  most  serviceable  stage  j  and,  being  so,  the  happiest 
of  the  whole ! " 

l  See  ante,  p.  57. 


CHAPTER  X. 
PRUDENCE  CRANDALL. — 1833. 

IN  the  third  week  of  January,  1833,  Mr.  Garrison  re-     CHAP.  x. 
ceived  the  following  letter  from  a  country  village        1833. 
in  Windham  County,  Connecticut : 

Prudence  Crandall  to  W.  L.  Garrison. 

CANTERBURY,  Jan.  18th,  1833.  MS. 

MR.  GARRISON:  I  am  to  you,  sir,  I  presume,  an  entire 
stranger,  and  you  are  indeed  so  to  me  save  through  the  medium 
of  the  public  print.  I  am  by  no  means  fond  of  egotism,  but  the 
circumstances  under  which  I  labor  forbid  my  asking  a  friend 
to  write  for  me ;  therefore  I  will  tell  you  who  I  am,  and  for 
what  purpose  I  write.  I  am,  sir,  through  the  blessing  of 
divine  Providence,  permitted  to  be  the  Principal  of  the  Can 
terbury  (Conn.)  Female  Boarding  School.  I  received  a  con 
siderable  part  of  my  education  at  the  Friends'  Boarding  School, 
Providence,  R.  I.  In  1831  I  purchased  a  large  dwelling-house  l 
in  the  centre  of  this  village,  and  opened  the  school  above 
mentioned.  Since  I  commenced  I  have  met  with  all  the  en 
couragement  I  ever  anticipated,  and  now  have  a  nourishing 
school. 

Now  I  will  tell  you  why  I  write  you,  and  the  object  is  this : 
I  wish  to  know  your  opinion  respecting  changing  white  scholars 
for  colored  ones.  I  have  been  for  some  months  past  determined 

l  Sold  in  consequence  of  the  recent  death  of  its  owner,  Luther  Paine.  It 
stood  on  the  southwest  corner  of  the  Norwich  and  Worcester  turnpike,  at 
the  crossing  of  the  Hartford  and  Providence  turnpike,  and  overlooked 
Canterbury  Green.  On  the  opposite  (northwest)  corner  stood  the  hand 
some  new  house  of  Andrew  T.  Judson.  See  p.  1  of  the  Providence  Even 
ing  Bulletin,  Dec.  30,  1880,  and  Vol.  2,  p.  490,  of  Larned's  'History  of 
Windham  County.' 

315 


316  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAKRISON.  [&T.  28. 

CHAP.  X.  if  possible  during  the  remaining  part  of  my  life  to  benefit  the 
1833  people  of  color.  I  do  not  dare  tell  any  one  of  my  neighbors 
anything  about  the  contemplated  change  in  my  school,  and  I 
beg  of  you,  sir,  that  you  will  not  expose  it  to  any  one  ;  for  if  it 
was  known,  I  have  no  reason  to  expect  but  it  would  ruin  my 
present  school.  Will  you  be  so  kind  as  to  write  by  the  next 
mail  and  give  me  your  opinion  on  the  subject ;  and  if  you  con 
sider  it  possible  to  obtain  20  or  25  young  ladies  of  color  to  enter 
this  school  for  the  term  of  one  year  at  the  rate  of  $25  per  quar 
ter,  including  board,  washing,  and  tuition,  I  will  come  to  Boston 
in  a  few  days  and  make  some  arrangements  about  it.  I  do  not 
suppose  that  number  can  be  obtained  in  Boston  alone  j  but 
from  all  the  large  cities  in  the  several  States  I  thought  perhaps 
they  might  be  gathered. 

I  must  once  more  beg  you  not  to  expose  this  matter  until  we 
see  how  the  case  will  be  determined. 

Yours,  with  the  greatest  respect, 

PRUDENCE  CRANDALL. 

The  response  must  have  been  favorable,  for  ten  days 
later  a  note  was  placed  in  Mr.  Garrison's  hands,  which 
ran  thus : 

Prudence  Crandall  to  W.  L.  Garrison. 
MS.  BOSTON,  January  29th,  1833. 

MR.  GARRISON  :  The  lady  that  wrote  you  a  short  time  since 
would  inform  you  that  she  is  now  in  town,  and  should  be  very 
thankful  if  you  would  call  at  Mr.  Barker's  Hotel l  and  see  her 
a  few  moments  this  evening  at  6  o'clock. 

Yours,  with  the  greatest  respect, 

P.  CRANDALL. 

The  nature  of  this  interview  may  be  inferred  from  a 
third  letter : 

Prudence  Crandall  to  W.  L.  Garrison. 

MS.  .  CANTERBURY,  February  12th,  1833. 

MR.  GARRISON  :  I  can  inform  you  that  I  had  a  very  pleasant 
Feb.  2.       passage  home.    Arrived  here  Saturday  evening  about  8  o'clock  j 

l  The  Marlboro'  Hotel,  229  Washington  Street,  kept  by  Mr.  James  Barker, 
from  which  the  Providence  stages  took  their  departure. 


son. 


^ET.  28.]  PKUDENCE   CKANDALL.  317 

saw  Mr.  Packer1  on  Monday ;  told  him  the  object  of  my  visit  to     CHAP.  X. 
Boston.     He  said  he  thought  the  object  to  be  praiseworthy,         j^T 
but  he  was  very  much  troubled  about  the  result.     He  is  fearful 
that  I  cannot  be  supplied  with  scholars  at  the  close  of  one 
year,   and  therefore  he  thinks  I   shall  injure  myself  in  the 
undertaking. 

If  you  have  not  yet  sent  on  to  New  York  the  information  you 
intend,  I  would  thank  you  if  you  would  do  it  immediately,  for 
I  am  expecting  to  take  the  next  boat  for  New  York2  and 
shall  be  in  the  city  early  on  Friday  morning.  I  have  not  the 
least  acquaintance  there,  but  a  friend  of  mine  will  give  me  an 
introductory  letter  to  Mr.  Miller,  one  of  the  colored  ministers 
in  the  city. 

The  evening  after  I  left  Boston  I  called  on  Mrs.  Hammond,3 
who  soon  collected-  some  of  her  friends,  among  whom  were  Mr. 
George  [W.]  Benson  and  a  brother  of  his,  who  appeared  to  H.  E.  Ben- 
possess  hearts  warmed  with  fellow-feeling  and  awake  to  the 
cause  of  humanity.  They  engaged  to  do  all  for  me  in  their 
power,  and  I  have  no  doubt  they  will.4  Saturday  morning, 
called  on  Mrs.  H.  again,  and  she  walked  with  me  to  the  resi 
dence  of  three  families  of  color,  with  whom  I  was  much  pleased. 
They  seemed  to  feel  much  for  the  education  of  their  children, 
and  I  think  I  shall  be  able  to  obtain  six  scholars  from  Provi 
dence.  When  I  return  from  N.  Y.,  I  think  I  shall  be  able  to 
lay  the  subject  before  the  public. 

Yours,  &c.,          P.  CRANDALL. 

1  Capt.  Daniel  Packer,  one  of  the  board  of  visitors  of  Miss  Crandall's 
white  school,  and  a  man  of  great  prominence  as  a  manufacturer,  a  tem 
perance  advocate,  and  the  founder  of  a  Baptist  church  at  Packerville,  in 
which  "Miss  Crandall  was  received  with  her  troop  of  colored  girls  when  the 
First  Church  was  closed  against  them";  "they  being  to  occupy  the  back 
pews  in  the  gallery  near  the  door  "  (MS.  July  9,  1833,  Almira  Crandall  to 
G.  W.  Benson.    And  see  Vol.  2,  pp.  488-506,  Larned's  '  History  of  Windham 
County'). 

2  The  service  was  semi- weekly — Tuesdays  and  Thursdays  from  Provi 
dence,  Wednesdays  and  Fridays  from  New  York. 

3 1.  e.,  in  Providence.  Mrs.  H.  was  the  mother  of  Ann  Eliza  Hammond, 
"a  fine  girl,  aged  seventeen  years,"  who  became  one  of  Miss  Crandall's 
colored  pupils,  and  was  made  the  object  of  the  revival  of  an  obsolete 
vagrant  law,  of  which  the  final  penalty  was  to  be  "  whipped  on  the  naked 
body  not  exceeding  ten  stripes"  (May's  'Recollections,'  p.  51;  Lib.  3:78). 

4  "The  lady  who  was  at  your  office  last  week  to  see  about  a  school  for 
colored  females,  passed  through  here  Friday.  We  had  a  pleasant  interview 
with  her  on  that  evening.  She  is,  I  should  think,  exactly  the  one  for  that 
purpose,  and  I  hope  she  may  meet  with  perfect  success  "  (MS.  Providence, 
Feb.  8,  1833,  Henry  E.  Benson  to  W.  L.  G.) 


318  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAKEISON.  O£T.  28. 

CHAP.  x.        Why  did  Miss  Crandall  contemplate  so  revolutionary 
jsjs.        a  step,  and  why  did  she  seek  counsel,  before  all  others, 
of  William  Lloyd  Garrison  ?    Her  own  account,  given 
in  1869,  is  as  follows  : 

Larned's  "  The  reason  for  changing  my  school  of  white  pupils  for  a 
County,  *Voi.  school  for  colored  pupils  is  as  follows :  I  had  a  nice  colored 
2,  /.  491.  girl7  now  Mrs.  Charles  Harris,  as  help  in  my  family,  and  her 
Fruits  of  intended  husband  regularly  received  the  Liberator.  The  girl 
Colonization-  took  the  paper  from  the  office  and  loaned  it  to  me.  In  that  the 
condition  of  the  colored  people,  both  slaves  and  free,  was 
truthfully  portrayed,  the  double-dealing  and  manifest  decep 
tion  of  the  Colonization  Society  were  faithfully  exposed,  and 
the  question  of  Immediate  Emancipation  of  the  millions  of 
slaves  in  the  United  States  boldly  advocated.  Having  been 
taught  from  early  childhood  the  sin  of  slavery,  my  sympathies 
were  greatly  aroused.  Sarah  Harris,  a  respectable  young 
woman  and  a  member  of  the  church  (now  Mrs.  Fairweather, 
and  sister  to  the  before-named  intended  husband),  called  often 
to  see  her  friend  Marcia,  my  family  assistant.  In  some  of  her 
calls  I  ascertained  that  she  wished  to  attend  my  school,1  and 
board  at  her  own  father's  house  at  some  little  distance  from 
the  village.  I  allowed  her  to  enter  as  one  of  my  pupils.  By 
this  act  I  gave  great  offence.  The  wife  of  an  Episcopal  clergy 
man  who  lived  in  the  village  told  me  that  if  I  continued  that 
colored  girl  in  my  school,  it  could  not  be  sustained.  I  replied 
to  her,  That  it  might  sink,  then,  for  I  should  not  turn  her  out !  I 
very  soon  ftfund  that  some  of  my  school  would  leave  not  to 
return  if  the  colored  girl  was  retained.  Under  these  circum 
stances  I  made  up  my  mind  that  if  it  were  possible  I  would 
teach  colored  girls  exclusively." 

The  first  publication  of  the  intended  change  was  made 

£#.3:35.    in  the  Liberator   of  March  2,   1833,   when  the   editor 

announced,  "  with  a  rush  of  pleasurable  emotions,"  the 

insertion  of  "  the  advertisement  of  Miss  P.  Crandall  (a 

l  In  order  to  teach  her  own  color  (Lib.  3 : 82 ;  '  Fruits  of  Colonizationism,' 
p.  9).  This  was  as  early  as  September,  1832.  Another  pupil,  Mary  Harris, 
who  afterwards  became  Mrs.  Williams,  was  in  1881  engaged  with  her  hus 
band  in  " teaching  colored  persons,  old  and  young,  in  Greensburg,  La.," 
their  home  being  in  New  Orleans,  "where  their  oldest  son  is  teaching, 
with  six  teachers  under  him"  (Mrs.  Philleo  [Miss  Crandall],  MS.  May  5, 
1881). 


-Efc.  28-l  PRUDENCE   CBANDALL.  319 

white  lady),  of  Canterbury,  Conn.,  for  a  High  School  for    CHAP.  x. 
young  colored  Ladies   and  Misses.     This  is,v  he  con-       l8~^3. 
tinued,    "  a   seasonable    auxiliary  to  the   contemplated 
Manual  Labor  School  for  Colored  Youth.    An  interview 
with  Miss  C.  has  satisfied  us  that  she  richly  deserves  the 
patronage  and  confidence  of  the  people  of  color;  and  we 
doubt  not  they  will  give  her  both.77 

Already,  however,  the  town  of  Canterbury  had  been 
thrown  into  an  uproar  by  the  news  not  only  that  Miss 
Grand  all  would  not  dismiss  Sarah  Harris,  but  would 
practically  dismiss  her  white  pupils  instead,  and  make 
Canterbury  the  seat  of  the  higher  education  of  "nig 
gers."  "  The  good  people  of  Canterbury,"  writes  Arnold  MS.  to 
Buffum  from  Providence,  on  March  4,  "I  learn,  have  W'  L'  (l' 
had  three  town  meetings  last  week  to  devise  ways  and 
means  to  suppress  P.  CrandalFs  school,  and  I  am  in 
formed  that  the  excitement  is  so  great  that  it  would  not 
be  safe  for  me  to  appear  there.  George  [W.]  Benson,  how 
ever,  has  ventured  and  gone  there  on  Saturday  afternoon 
last,  to  see  what  can  be  done  in  the  case."  Mr.  Benson 
found  that  Miss  Crandall  had  already  been  visited  by  a 
committee  of  gentlemen,  who  represented  "  that  by  put-  Lib.  3:39. 
ting  her  design  into  execution  she  would  bring  disgrace- 
and  ruin  upon  them  all."  They  "  professed  to  feel  a 
real  regard  for  the  colored  people,  and  were  perfectly 
willing  they  should  be  educated,  provided  it  could  be 
effected  in  some  other  place  !  —  a  sentiment,"  adds  Mr. 
Benson,  "  you  will  say,  worthy  of  a  true  colonizationist." 
He  also  learned  of  the  calling  of  another  town  meeting 
for  the  9th  instant,  at  which  S.  J.  May,  of  the  adjacent 
village  of  Brooklyn,  had  promised  to  be  present  as  Miss 
CrandalTs  attorney,1  and  his  own  services  in  the  same 
capacity  were  gladly  accepted.  They  were  subsequently 
reinforced  by  Arnold  Buffum.  On  the  eve  of  the  meet 
ing,  Mr.  Garrison  wrote  from  Boston  to  Mr.  Benson : 

iMr.  May  had  first  heard  of  the  trouble  on  Feb.  27  ('Recollections,' 
p.  42).  In  his  autobiographic  narrative  of  the  subsequent  events  he 
properly  figures  much  more  prominently  than  is  possible  here. 


320  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARKISON.  [^T.  28. 

W.  L.  Garrison  to  George  W.  Benson. 

MS.  BOSTON,  March  8,  1833. 

Although  distracted  with  cares,  I  must  seize  my  pen  to 
express  my  admiration  of  your  generous  and  prompt  defence 
of  Miss  Crandall  from  her  pitiful  assailants.  In  view  of  their 
outrageous  conduct,  my  indignation  kindles  intensely.  What 
will  be  the  result  ?  If  possible,  Miss  C.  must  be  sustained  at  all 
hazards.  If  we  suffer  the  school  to  be  put  down  in  Canterbury, 
other  places  will  partake  of  the  panic,  and  also  prevent  its  in 
troduction  in  their  vicinity.  We  may  as  well,  "  first  as  last," 
meet  this  prescriptive  spirit,  and  conquer  it.  We — i.  e.,  all  true 
friends  of  the  cause — must  make  this  a  common  concern.  The 
New  Haven  excitement  has  furnished  a  bad  precedent — a 
second  must  not  be  given,  or  I  know  not  what  we  can  do  to 
raise  up  the  colored  population  in  a  manner  which  their  intel 
lectual  and  moral  necessities  demand.  In  Boston,  we  are  all 
excited  at  the  Canterbury  affair.  Colonizationists  are  rejoicing, 
and  abolitionists  looking  sternly. 

The  result  of  the  meeting  to  be  held  in  C.  to-morrow  will  be 
waited  for  by  us  with  great  anxiety.  Our  brother  May  deserves 
much  credit  for  venturing  to  expostulate  with  the  conspirators. 
If  any  one  can  make  them  ashamed  of  their  conduct,  he  is  the 
man.  May  the  Lord  give  him  courage,  wisdom,  and  success ! 

Lib.  3:42.  The  result  of  the  meeting  was  reported  to  the  lib 
erator  of  March  16,  by  Henry  E.  Benson,  in  a  letter  to 
which  Mr.  Garrison  gave  the  caption,  "  Heathenism  Out 
done/7  and  prefixed  a  brief  comment,  saying  :  "  We  put 
the  names  of  the  principal  disturbers  in  black  letter — 
black  as  the  infamy  which  will  attach  to  them  as  long 
as  there  exists  any  recollection  of  the  wrongs  of  the 
colored  race.  To  colonize  these  shameless  enemies  of 
their  species  in  some  desert  country  would  be  a  relief  and 
blessing  to  society.  This  scandalous  excitement  is  one 
of  the  genuine  flowers  of  the  colonization  garden."  The 
meeting,  refusing  to  allow  Messrs.  May  and  Buffum  to 
be  heard  on  Miss  Crandall's  behalf,  on  the  ground  of 

Lib.  3 : 54.  their  being  foreigners  and  interlopers,  voted  unanimously 
their  disapprobation  of  the  school,  and  pledged  the  town 
to  oppose  it  at  all  hazards. 


* 

^T.  28.]  PRUDENCE   CRANDALL.  321 

The  story  of  this  remarkable  case  cannot  be  pursued 
here  except  in  brief.     It  has  been  fully  related  in  easily    May's  Rec- 
accessible  works,  and  from  this  point  Mr.  Garrison's  con-    pp.  39-72  ; 
nection  with  the  progress  of  events  ceased  from  force  of    Lifeo/A*.' 
circumstances.  It  will  be  enough  to  say  that  the  struggle 


between  the  modest  and  heroic  young  Quaker  woman1  Lamed  's 

Windham 

and  the  town  lasted  for  nearly  two  years  ;  that  the  school  County, 
was  opened  in  April;   that  attempts  were  immediately 
made  under  the  law  to  frighten  the  pupils  away  and  to 

fine  Miss  Crandall  for  harboring;  them  :  that  in  May  an  etc.; 

•                     J  ofColoniza- 

act  prohibiting  private  schools  for  non-resident  colored 
persons,  and  providing  for  the  expulsion  of  the  latter, 

was  procured  from  the  Legislature,  amid  the  greatest  ^o^jan. 

rejoicing  in  Canterbury  (even  to  the  ringing  of  church  **'  *8Sl  ; 

bells)  ;2  that,  under  this  act,  Miss  Crandall  was  in  June  ncdofa 

arrested  and  temporarily  imprisoned  in  the  county  jail,  u.  s.,  ' 

twice  tried  (August  and  October),  and  convicted  ;  that  :  jjjj?/3  ' 


her  case  was  carried  up  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  Errors, 

and  her  persecutors  defeated   on   a   technicality  (July, 

1834),  and  that  pending  this  litigation  the  most  vindictive 

and  inhuman  measures  were  taken  to  isolate  the  school 

from  the  countenance  and  even  the  physical  support  of    Lib.  3  :  99, 

the  townspeople.    The  shops  and  the  meeting-house  were   ^i,1}^0" 

closed  against  teacher  and  pupils  ;  3  carriage  in  the  public 

conveyances  was  denied  them  ;  physicians  would  not  wait 

upon  them  ;  Miss  Crandall's  own  family  and  friends  were 

forbidden  under  penalty  of  heavy  fines  to  visit  her  ;  the 

well  was  filled  with  manure,  and  water  from  other  sources 

refused  ;  the  house  itself  was  smeared  with  filth,  assailed 

with  rotten  eggs  and  stones,  and  finally  set  on  fire. 

1  "  Unequalled  woman  in  this  servile  age,"  Mr.  Garrison  calls  her,  in  an 
acrostic  "addressed  to  her  who  is  the  ornament  of  her  sex''  (Lib.±-A7). 
Miss  Crandall  was  his  senior  by  two  years.  August  12,  1834,  she  married 
the  Rev.  Calvin  Philleo,  a  Baptist  clergyman  of  Ithaca,  N.  Y.,  and  removed 
to  Illinois.  After  his  death  in  1874  she  removed  with  her  brother  HezeMah 
to  Southern  Kansas.  She  retains  (1885)  her  vigor  of  mind  and  interest  in 
the  colored  race  to  a  remarkable  degree. 

a  This  act  was  repealed  in  May,  1838  (Lib.  8:91). 

3  "  Not  a  shop  in  the  village  will  sell  her  a  morsel  of  food  "  (MS.  Aug.  30, 
1833,  Henry  Benson  to  W.  L.  G.) 

VOL.  I.—  21 


322  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKEISON.  [^T.  28. 


CHAP.  x.~  Such  conduct  on  the  part  of  a  civilized  and  Christian 
jsjg.  community  —  the  most  respectable  cooperating  with  the 
vilest  citizens  —  was,  after  all,  faintly  described  by  Mr. 
Garrison's  phrase,  "heathenism  outdone/'  applied,  and 
justly  applied,  only  to  the  initial  proceedings.  It  was 
his  last  comment  upon  the  affair,  and  very  short,  but  the 
severity  of  it  touched  the  Canterbury  persecutors  to  the 
quick,  particularly  the  five  men  whose  names  were 
printed  in  black  letters  —  the  magnates  of  the  little 

MS.  Mar.  village.  "Your  remarks  in  the  last  Liberator  were  awfully 
cutting,"  writes  Henry  Benson  ;  and  Miss  Crandall  her 
self  interposed  with  a  prudential  consideration  : 

MS.  Mar.  "Permit  me  to  entreat  you  to  handle  the  prejudices  of  the 
19.  l833-  people  of  Canterbury  with  all  the  mildness  possible,  as  every 
thing  severe  tends  merely  to  heighten  the  flame  of  malignity 
amongst  them.  '  Soft  words  turn  away  wrath,  but  grievous 
words  stir  up  anger.7  Mr.  May  and  many  others  of  your  warm 
hearted  friends  feel  very  much  on  this  subject,  and  it  is  our 
opinion  that  you  and  the  cause  will  gain  many  friends  in  this 
town  and  vicinity  if  you  treat  the  matter  with  perfect  mildness." 

Mr.  Garrison  was,  however,  making  war  on  the  com 
mon  enemy,  and  his  "  harsh  language  "  was  still  in  order. 
He  had  also  put  his  finger  on  the  right  spot  when  he 
declared  the  Canterbury  mania  to  be  "  one  of  the  genuine 
flowers  of  the  colonization  garden.'7  1  "  Be  it  so,"  cried 
Andrew  T.  Judson,  one  of  the  five,  and  then  or  shortly 
afterwards  a  life-member  of  the  American  Colonization 
Society,  as  was  also  Dr.  Andrew  Harris,  of  the  same 
Lib.  3:  107,  black-list.2  "  Be  it  so,"  said  Squire  Judson,  in  an  address 
to  the  Colonization  Society  signed  by  the  civil  authority 
and  selectmen  under  date  of  March  22,  1833.  "  We 
appeal  to  the  American  Colonization  Society,  to  which 
our  statement  is  addressed  —  we  appeal  to  every  philan 
thropist,  to  every  Christian  —  we  appeal  to  the  enlight- 

1  The  phrase  was  Arnold  Buff  urn's,  in  the  letter  of  Mai*ch  4,  already 
cited. 

2  Judson  was  in  July  made  a  local  agent  of  the  Windham  Co.  Colonization 
Society,  and  orator  for  the  next  meeting.     Like  him,  Harris  lived  on  a 
corner  opposite  Miss  CrandalTs  school. 


JET.  28.]  PKUDENCE   GRAND  ALL.  323 

ened  citizens  of  our  native  State  and  the  friends  of  our  CHAP.  x. 
country  ;  and  in  making  that  appeal  we  assure  them  all  Z8^3. 
that  they  may  rely  upon  the  facts  here  stated,  and  we 
ask  them  to  apply  to  these  facts  those  wholesome  princi 
ples  which  we  believe  are  universally  cherished  in  New 
England,  and  the  issue  we  will  abide."  He  declared  that 
the  "  school  was  to  become  an  auxiliary  in  the  work  of 
immediate  abolition,"  with  the  Liberator  for  its  mouth 
piece  ;  that  Miss  Crandall  had  denounced  colonization  as 
a  fraud ;  and  that  "  once  open  this  door,  and  New  Eng 
land  will  become  the  Liberia  of  America.'7  As  town 
clerk  he  recorded  the  vote  of  the  town  meeting  on  April  Lib.  3 : 78. 
1,  to  petition  for  a  law  against  the  bringing  of  colored 
people  from  other  towns  and  States  for  any  purpose, 
"  and  more  especially  for  the  purpose  of  disseminating 
the  principles  and  doctrines  opposed  to  the  benevolent 
colonization  scheme  " ;  and  as  one  of  the  committee  he 
drew  up  the  petition.  He  was,  in  fact,  the  soul  of  the 
persecution,  for  which  he  boldly  invoked  and  secured  the 
complicity  of  a  Society  whose  hostility  to  any  attempt  to 
raise  the  condition  of  the  colored  people  in  the  land  of 
their  nativity  was  once  more  shiningly  demonstrated.  It 
was  his  mission,  also,  in  the  pursuit  of  professional  and 
political  advancement,  to  illustrate  the  malevolence 
towards  Mr.  Garrison  which  now  began,  on  the  part  of 
the  Colonization  managers,  to  assume  a  murderous 
intensity.1 

In  February,  the  Colonization  agent,  Danforth,  in  the 
midst  of  a  public  debate  with  Arnold  Buffum  at  Lyceum 
Hall,  Salem,  taunted  Mr.  Garrison  with  not  going  South 
to  preach  to  the  slaveholders,  and,  recalling  the  hand 
some  rewards  offered  for  him,  pointed  him  out  in  the 
audience,  "with  a  significant  gesture,"  as  "this  same  £#.3:42. 
William  Lloyd  Garrison  "  for  whom  he  himself  had  been 
offered  $10,000  by  an  individual.  This  incentive  to  kid 
napping  was  not  a  harmless  device  to  throw  odium  on  an 
adversary.  Mr.  Amasa  Walker  reported,  at  the  annual 

l  See  Mr.  Garrison's  striking  review  of  this  persecution  in  Lib.  4 : 31. 


324  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON.  I>ET.  28. 

meeting  of  the  New-England  Anti-Slavery  Society  in 
£#.3:54-  Boston,  that  "he  had  lately  heard  all  abolitionists 
denounced  in  State  Street  as  mischievous  men,  and  one 
had  lately  said  to  him  that  he  wished  he  had  the  Editor 
of  the  Liberator  in  an  iron  cage  —  he  would  send  him  to 
the  Governor  of  Georgia,  who  would  know  what  to  do 
with  him."  Nor  did  Danforth's  malice  end  there.  In  a 
letter  written  from  Boston  under  date  of  March  28, 1833, 
to  Col.  William  L.  Stone,  editor  of  the  New  York  Com 
mercial  Advertiser  and  chairman  of  the  executive  com 
mittee  of  the  Colonization  Society  in  that  city,  he  used 
the  following  still  more  "  significant"  language  : 

£#.3:69.  "In  the  midst  of  all  these  successful  endeavors  [to  found 
Liberia  and  people  it] ,  there  appears  a  young  man  within  the 
last  two  years,  of  the  name  of  Garrison,  whose  pen  is  so  ven 
omous  that  the  laws  enacted  for  the  peace  of  the  community 
and  the  protection  of  private  character  have,  in  one  instance, 
actually  confined  him  in  jail,  as  they  would  a  lunatic.  This 
man,  who,  according  to  his  own  account,  has  only  since  1830 
turned  against  the  Colonization  cause,  in  favor  of  which  he 
delivered  his  sentiments  in  public  twelve  years  after  the 
Society  was  formed ;  this  man,  who  is  considered  such  a  dis 
turber  of  the  tranquillity  of  Southern  society1  that  $10,000 
reward  have  been  offered  me  for  his  person,  and  the 
most  touching  appeals  as  well  as  ofiicial  demands  made 
to  us  in  this  region  that  he  should  be  publicly  discounte 
nanced,  and  even  given  up  to  justice  ;  who  is  in  fact  this 
moment  in  danger  of  being  surrendered  to  the  civil  authori 
ties  of  some  one  of  the  Southern  States ;  this  man,  in  connection 
with  a  few  like-minded  spirits,  has  been  engaged  in  forming 
what  they  call '  The  New-England  Anti-Slavery  Society,'  one 
object  of  which  is,  'to  effect  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the 
United  States.'  .  .  . 

LeviLincoln,       "  I  have  conversed  freely  with  the  Governor  of  this  Common- 
1825-33.       wealth,  and  other  leading  men,  on  this  subject,  and  they  ex 
press  a  decided  disapprobation  of  Garrison's  course.     For  a 
while  he  tried  the  effect  of  his  Liberator  upon  the  Governor  by 

1  Videlicet,  by  the  publication  of  the  Liberator.  Yet  another  coloniza- 
tionist,  Robert  S.  Finley,  son  of  the  reputed  founder  of  the  Society,  pre 
tended  at  this  very  time  to  have  circulated  the  Liberator  industriously  at 
the  South  as  the  best  means  of  advancing  the  Society  (Lib.  3  : 54). 


^ET.  28.]  PRUDENCE   CKANDALL.  325 

sending  it  to  him.     His  Excellency,  however,  did  not  think  it     CHAP.  X. 
worth  the  postage,  and  ordered  it  stopped.     Garrison  is  now        z^7 
preparing  to  go  to  England,  doubtless  to  repeat  viva  voce  the 
defamation  of  the  South  and  the  Colonization  Society  which 
has  been  already  sent   over  in  print,  and  re-echoed  in  this 
country  as  authentic  British  opinions." 

The  sequel  will  show  that  this  clerical  instigation  to  a 
forcible  detention  of  Mr.  Garrison,  if  nothing  worse,  was 
kept  in  mind  by  the  colonizationists.  The  mission  to 
England  had  been  talked  of  during  his  tour  in  Maine  the 
previous  year,  and  hastily  concluded  upon,  but  the  Lib 
erator  of  November  10,  1832,  reported  its  postponement.  Lib.  2 : 177. 
The  following  correspondence  shows  the  prime  conception 
of  it: 

Joseph  Cassey1  to  Isaac  Knapp,  Boston. 

PHILADELPHIA,  October  16, 1832.  MS. 

ESTEEMED  FRIEND  :  It  affords  me  much  satisfaction  to 
assure  you,  in  reply  to  your  favors  of  the  12th  inst.  and  of  the 
26th  ult.,  that  your  draft  for  one  hundred  dollars  will  be 
accepted  with  pleasure.  .  .  . 

As  regards  your  fears  that  the  resolution  on  the  part  of  the 
New-England  Anti- Slavery  Society  to  establish  a  manual-  "^ 
labor  school  might  be  the  means  of  retarding  the  progress  of 
the  one  in  contemplation  here,  the  provisional  committee,  to 
whom  your  letter  was  submitted,  agree  in  the  belief  that  noth 
ing  efficient  will  be  done  here  for  the  present,  and  rejoice  in 
the  belief  and  hope  that  your  efforts  will  be  more  immediately 
successful.  We  think  it  a  good  plan  to  make  an  appeal  to  the 
benevolent  in  Europe,  but  doubt  whether  it  would  be  advisable 
to  dispatch  an  agent  having  the  same  object  in  view,  so  soon 
after,  or  perhaps  at  the  same  time,  the  N.  E.  Anti-Slavery 
Society's  agent  might  be  making  collections. 

As  we  felt  unauthorized  to  move  first  in  this  matter,  we  con 
cluded  it  would  be  best  to  suggest  to  the  New  York  committee,  Sic. 
who,  having  the  advantage  of  consulting  with  our  good  and 
generous  patron,  Mr.  Tappan,  would  feel  more  confidence  in 
pursuing  any  measure  that  might  have  his  sanction.  We  have 
in  contemplation  to  write  them  and  suggest  Mr.  G.  as  a  suitable  W.  L.  G. 

1  Mr.  Cassey,  a  colored  gentleman,  was  one  of  the  Liberator's  most  active 
agents  in  Philadelphia. 


326  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GAKRISON.  [^T.  28. 


CHAP.  X.     person,  without,  however,  intimating  the  suggestion  as  having 

1833         originated  with  you.     Should  this  step  result  in  furtherance  of 

your  wishes,  I  shall  sincerely  rejoice,  for  I  also  feel  persuaded 

that  our  friend  could  visit  that  country  to  great  advantage  to 

our  cause. 

Arnold  Buffum  to  W.  L.  Garrison,  at  Portland. 
MS.  BOSTON,  10th  mo.  10,  1832. 

MY  DEAR  GARRISON  :  We  have  had  considerable  conversa 
tion  here  relative  to  sending  an  Agent  to  England  to  collect 
subscriptions  for  our  proposed  School  for  colored  youth,  and  as 
far  as  I  can  learn  there  seems  to  be  but  one  opinion  on  the 
subject,  and  that  is  that  if  the  means  of  defraying  the  expenses 
can  be  obtained,  it  will  be  best  that  thou  should  go  immediately 
to  England  for  that  purpose.  It  really  appears  to  me  that  it  is 
a  most  important  measure  to  be  immediately  adopted.  I  can 
entertain  no  doubt  but  thou  would  there  meet  the  most  cordial 
reception,  and  receive  liberal  contributions  towards  this  most 
desirable  object.  I  have  consulted  several  of  the  most  wealthy 
^  men  in  Providence  on  the  subject.  They  highly  approve  the 
measure  and  will  contribute  toward  its  accomplishment.  Please 
get,  on  thy  way  to  Boston,  a  few  hundred  if  possible  toward 
the  expenses  of  a  voyage  to  Europe,  and  come  up  and  sail  from 
New  York  the  first  of  next  month  —  that  is  my  most  decided 
opinion.  If  the  money  for  the  expenses  cannot  be  got  else 
where,  I  will  go  to  New  Bedford  and  beg  hard,  and  I  believe  I 
can  get  it  there.  At  any  rate,  I  will  try  as  soon  as  I  know  thou 
hast  decided  to  go. 

A  colored  man  now  here  from  Petersburg,  Virginia,  states 
that  they  have  there  had  a  missionary  society,  and  that  they 
have  been  obliged  to  give  it  up  in  consequence  of  the  new 
laws  which  prohibit  them  from  meeting,  and  that  they  have 
a  fund  of  $200  which  they  want  to  give  where  it  will  be  used 
for  the  benefit  of  the  colored  people.  He  thinks  they  will  give 
it  to  us. 

Please  to  write  me  immediately  in  reply.  Address  to  me  at 
Lowell,  and  oblige  thy  assured  friend, 

Garrison  in  England  will  do  the  cause  more  good  in  three 
months  than  in  twelve  in  America,  by  the  reception  he  will 
there  meet,  and  by  his  communications  through  the  columns  of 
the  Liberator,  &c.,  &c.  Excuse  the  great  haste,  which  almost 
precludes  thought. 


^T.  28.]  PKUDENCE   CKANDALL.  327 

Arnold  Buffum  to  W.  L.  Garrison,  at  Neivburyport.        CHAP.  x. 

ANDOVER,  10th.  mo.  23,  1832.  l833- 

MY  DEAR  FRIEND  :   Thine  of  20th  was  received  last  even-        MS. 
ing.     .     .     . 

Here  I  am  now  in  the  hot-bed  of   Colonizationism  ;    have 
been  trying  all  day  to  get  a  house  to  lecture  in,  this  and  to 
morrow  evening.     The  Orthodox  minister  refuses  his  house  in  • 
toto.    ...    I  am  now,  4  o'clock  P.  M.,  treating  for  the  Metho 
dist  meeting-house.     .     .     . 

I  intend  to  go  to  Newburyport  on  Thursday  of  this  week, 
and  meet  thee  there,  and  we  will  go  to  Boston  together  to 
make  arrangements  for  thy  voyage  to  England  and  France, 
for  thou  shalt  see  the  good  Lafayette. 

I  think  all  the  difficulties  thou  mentions  in  regard  to  the 
School  may  be  easily  obviated.  I  am  sure  the  idea  of  a  farm 
school  is  much  more  acceptable  to  the  public  than  that  of  a 
college.  At  the  same  time,  when  it  is  established  we  can  make 
what  we  please  of  it — that  is,  we  can  have  a  branch  located 
either  at  the  same  or  another  place,  where  honors  may  be  dis 
pensed  to  woolly  heads.  At  all  events  the  plan  must  go 
forward.  .  .  . 

Let  us  do  something  at  Newburyport :  do  thou  give  one 
lecture  there  and  I  will  give  one,  and  let  us  see  what  impression 
we  can  make. 

Arnold  Buffum  to  Garrison  &  Knapp,  Boston. 

ANDOVER,  10th  mo.  24,  1832.  MS. 

I  am  to  deliver  a  lecture  here  this  evening,  and  to-morrow 
morning  I  go  to  Newburyport  and  hope  to  meet  Friend  Gar 
rison  there  and  proceed  with  him  to  Boston.  ...  I  got  a 
letter  from  him  at  Lowell,  saying  he  proposed  to  return  to 
Boston  this  week  to  prepare  for  a  voyage  to  Europe,  should  the 
means  be  provided  and  his  friends  unitedly  think  it  desirable. 
I  hope  and  presume  there  will  be  but  one  opinion  on  the  sub 
ject.  It  was  to  consult  on  that  matter  that  I  wished  to  have  had 
a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Managers  when  in  Boston,  but  I 
consulted  all  I  saw,  and  heard  one  uniform  favorable  opinion. 

The  liberator  had  reached  England  early  in  the  sum 
mer  of  1831,  where  it  met  with  a  warm  welcome,  and  at 
once  induced  a  friendly  interchange  of  documents  and 
private  correspondence  between  the  abolitionists  of  the 


328  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAEEISON.  [^T.  28. 

CHAP.  x.  mother  country  and  their  unexpected  allies.  The  subse- 
1833.  quent  formation  of  a  society  in  the  United  States  for 
immediate  emancipation  was  still  more  cheering  :  "  I 

Lib.  3  :  7.  did  indeed  feel  it  as  a  cordial  to  my  heart,"  wrote  James 
Cropper  to  Arnold  Buffum  in  August,  1832.  Meantime 
Elliott  Cresson's  activity  among  the  wealthy  and  philan 
thropic  denomination  of  which  Cropper  was  so  admirable 
a  representative,  was  practically  unchecked,  though  his 

ciarksons  unscrupulousness  had  been  discovered.  He  lost  no  time 
strictures  on  after  his  arrival  out1  in  visiting  Wilberforce.  whom  he 

Life  of  Wil- 

berforce,  failed  to  convince  of  the  practicability  of  transporting 
forces  letter  the  blacks  to  Liberia;  and  the  blind  Clarkson,  whom  he 


deceived  by  the  most  outrageous  fictions  in  regard  to 
the  emancipatory  intentions  and  influence  of  the  Society, 
Lib.  3  :  189.  and  committed  to  a  guarded  approval  of  it  in  terms 
which  nevertheless  betrayed  the  misrepresentations  to 
which  the  writer  had  been  subjected.  Transmitted  by 
Cresson  to  the  home  organ,  the  endorsement  was  seen  to 
be  fatal  to  the  Society's  standing  at  the  South,  so  that 
to  publish  it  honestly  would  have  been  suicidal.  It  was 
therefore  suppressed,  and  a  garbled  version  ultimately  sub 
stituted,2  which  compares  as  follows  with  the  original  : 

Clarhson  to  E.  Cresson,  African  Repository, 

December  1,  1831.  November,  1832. 

Lib.  3:178.        This  Society  seems  to  me  to        He  [Clarkson]  considers  the 

have    two  objects    in  view  —  object  of  the  Society  two  -fold: 

first,   TO    ASSIST    IN    THE  first,    TO    PROMOTE    THE 

EMANCIPATION    OF    ALL  VOLUNTARY        EMIGRA- 

THE     SLAVES    NOW    IN  TION  TO  AFRICA  OF  THE 

THE    UNITED    STATES;  COLORED      POPULATION 

and,  secondly,  by  sending  these  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES; 

to  Africa,  to  do  away  the  slave-  and  second,  the  suppression  of 

trade,  and  promote  civilization  the  slave-trade,  and  the  civili- 

among  the  natives  there.  zation  of  the  African  tribes. 

1  In  the  summer  of  1831.     (See  African  Repository  for  November  ;  also, 
Harriet  Martineau's  'Autobiography,'  1:149.) 

2  Gurley's  explanation  of  this  baseness  may  be  found  in  Lib.  3  :  119,  and 
should  be  consulted. 


MT.  28.]  PRUDENCE   GRAND  ALL.  329 

The    l  Thoughts '  had  greatly   assisted  Cropper   and 
Stuart  in  baffling  the  "  fit  agent  of  a  Society  which  can      Arnold 
succeed  only  by  stratagem  and  deception  " ;  but  the  rep-     ciarksm, 
resentations   of  these    and   other   English   friends   had  '  °*tl™lsi> 
doubtless  induced  the   managers  of  the   New-England 
Anti-Slavery  Society  to  consider  their  duty  in  the  prem 
ises.     In  carrying  out,  therefore,  the  resolution  of  Sep 
tember  24,  already  cited,  to  solicit  means  abroad  for  the  ^f'^2282' 
Manual  Labor  School,  it  would  clearly  be  a  gain  to  send 
some  one  capable  also  of  confronting  Cresson  ;  and  who 
should  be  preferred  to  the  author  of  the  '  Thoughts '  ? 
Accordingly,  in  the  first  week  in  March,  1833  — 

"  The  Board  of  Managers  of  the  New-England  Anti-Slavery  Lib.  3 : 39. 
Society  hereby  give  notice  to  the  public,  that  they  have  ap 
pointed  William  Lloyd  Garrison  as  their  Agent,  and  that  he 
will  proceed  to  England  as  soon  as  the  necessary  arrangements 
can  be  made,  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  funds  to  aid  in  the 
establishment  of  the  proposed  MANUAL  LABOR  SCHOOL 
FOR  COLORED  YOUTH,  and  of  disseminating  in  that  country 
the  truth  in  relation  to  American  Slavery,  and  to  its  ally,  the 
American  Colonization  Society. 

"  The  Board  are  confident  that  the  friends  of  emancipation 
will  require  no  apology  for  this  step,  and  that  little  need  be 
said  to  secure  their  efficient  aid  in  the  accomplishment  of  an 
object  so  highly  important.  The  fact  is  generally  known  that 
Elliott  Cresson  is  now  in  England  as  an  agent  for  the  Coloni 
zation  Society,  and  that  he  has  procured  funds  to  a  considerable 
amount,  by  representing  that  the  object  of  the  Society  is,  'to 
assist  in  the  emancipation  of  all  the  slaves  now  in  the  United 
States.'  It  is  important  that  the  Philanthropists  of  that  country 
should  be  undeceived,  and  that  the  real  principles  and  designs 
of  the  Colonization  Society  should  be  there  made  known. 

"  The  Board  have  the  most  entire  confidence  in  the  success 
of  this  Agency.  The  people  of  England  have  long  since  taken 
the  ground  of  IMMEDIATE  ABOLITION,  and  their  philanthropy 
and  benevolence  are  too  well  known  to  admit  a  doubt  of  their 
readiness  to  cooperate  with  us,  in  the  establishment  of  an  insti 
tution  which  shall  afford  to  colored  youth  the  means  of  acquir 
ing  that  knowledge  of  which  they  have  so  long  been  deprived. 

"  As  the  Society  has  but  a  small  amount  of  funds,  the  Board 
are  compelled  to  call  upon  the  friends  of  emancipation  through- 


330  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON.  [^T.  28. 

CHAP.  X.     out  the  country  for  aid   in  effecting  this  object.     And  they 
JJT"          hereby  invite  all  those  who  are  disposed  to  contribute  for  this 
object,  to  do  so  without  delay.     .     .     ." 

To  this  Mr.  Garrison  editorially  added  an  announce 
ment  of  his  purpose  to  sail  in  the  course  pf  a  few  weeks, 
leaving  the  Liberator  "in  the  hands  of  a  gentleman  [Oliver 
Johnson]  in  all  respects  qualified  to  make  it  an  interest 
ing  and  efficient  publication."  He  returned  "his  grateful 
acknowledgments  to  the  Colored  Female  Religious  and 
Moral  Society  of  Salem,  for  some  valuable  presents  to 
him  in  anticipation  of  Ms  voyage."  1  His  preparations 
for  departure  were  now  earnestly  begun ;  and  with  mind 
elated  at  the  prospect  of  visiting  kindred  spirits  in  the 
Old  World,  we  find  him  composing  his  formal  farewells, 
yielding  once  more  (after  a  whole  year's  preoccupation) 
to  the  inspiration  of  the  poetic  muse,2  and  reviving  an 
old  friendship  in  the  pursuit  of  a  new.  Some  Haver- 
hill  young  ladies  —  schoolmates  at  Derry,  N.  H.  —  styling 
themselves  "  Inquirers  after  Truth," 3  had  by  their  sym 
pathetic  letters  caused  a  lively  emotion  in  an  always 
susceptible  bosom  ;  so  much  so  that,  dates  considered,  an 

1  This  was  but  the  beginning  of  testimonials  and  contributions  from  the 
colored  people.     Meetings  expressive  of  their  esteem  and  confidence  were 
held,  and  contributions  to  the  mission  fund  made  in  Boston,  Philadelphia, 
New  York,  Newark,  and  Brooklyn  (Lib.  3 : 47,  59,  74,  83,  [95J).  The  speeches 
and  resolutions  testify  to  the  affection  felt  for  Mr.  Garrison,  and  are  no 
ticeably  apt  in  expression.     About  one-half  the  sum  acknowledged  in  Lib. 
3 :  86  ($624.50)  was  derived  from  this  source.     Besides  these  manifestations 
of  personal  interest,  the  Juvenile  Garrison  Independent  Society  presented 
him  with  a  large  and  handsomely  executed  heart-shaped   silver  medal, 
suitably  inscribed,  on  the  eve  of  his  departure  ;  and  colored  gentlemen  of 
Boston  and  Salem,  among  whose  inscribed  names  we  find  that  of  C.  L. 
Remond,  gave  him  a  beautiful  silver  cup  ' '  in  commemoration  of  our  farewell 
interview  at  the  hospitable  home  of  Mr.  George  Putnam." 

2  See  the  hopeful  lyric,  "Ye  who  in  bondage  pine,"  bearing  date  March 
20,  1833,  first  printed  in  the  April  number  of  the  monthly  A  bolitionist  (p.  64, 
afterwards  in  Lib.  3:*56),  and  sung  at  the  anti-slavery  meeting  held  on  the 
4th  of  July,  1833,  in  Boylston  Hall,  Boston  (Lib.  3 : 107). 

3  These  were  Miss  Harriet  Minot,  afterwards  Mrs.  Isaac  Pitman,  of  Som- 
erville,  Mass.,  and  a  lifelong  friend  of  Mr.  Garrison ;  Miss  Harriott  Plum- 
mer,  afterwards  Mrs.  Charles  Bartlett,  and  mother  of  the  distinguished 
Gen.  William  F.  Bartlett,  of  the  civil  war;  and  Miss  Elizabeth  E.  Parrott, 

.  afterwards  Mrs.  George  Hughes,  of  Boston. 


gsiPW™ 


*>•* 


^T.  28.]  PKUDENCE   GRAND  ALL.  331 

incidental  avowal  in  the  Liberator  of  March  16  —  "  We  Lib.  3 : 43. 
declare  that  our  heart  is  neither  affected  by,  nor  pledged 
to,  any  lady,  black  or  white,  bond  or  free  " l —  was  perhaps 
intended  to  be  read  as  an  advertisement,  between  the 
lines.  A  trip  to  Haverhill  and  an  address  there  were  the 
result  of  the  correspondence  which  ensued  : 

W.  L.  Garrison  to  "Inquirers  after  Truth." 

BOSTON,  March  4,  1833.  MS. 

You  excite  my  curiosity  and  interest  still  more  by  informing 
me  that  my  dearly  beloved  Whittier  is  a  friend  and  townsman 
of  yours.  Can  we  not  induce  him  to  devote  his  brilliant  genius 
more  to  the  advancement  of  our  cause,  and  kindred  enterprises, 
and  less  to  the  creations  of  romance  and  fancy,  and  the  dis 
turbing  incidents  of  political  strife  ? 

BOSTON,  March  18,  1833.  MS. 

You  think  my  influence  will  prevail  with  my  dear  Whittier 
more  than  yours.  I  think  otherwise.  If  he  has  not  already 
blotted  my  name  from  the  tablet  of  his  memory,  it  is  because 
his  magnanimity  is  superior  to  neglect.  We  have  had  no  cor 
respondence  whatever,  for  more  than  a  year,  with  each  other ! 
Does  this  look  like  friendship  between  us  °1  And  yet  I  take  the 
blame  all  to  myself.  He  is  not  a  debtor  to  me  —  I  owe  him 
many  letters.  My  only  excuse  is  an  almost  unconquerable 
aversion  to  pen,  ink  and  paper  (as  well  he  knows),  and  the 
numerous  obligations  which  rest  upon  me,  growing  out  of  my 
connection  with  the  cause  of  emancipation.  Pray,  secure  his 
forgiveness,  and  tell  him  that  my  love  to  him  is  as  strong  as 
was  that  of  David  to  Jonathan.  Soon  I  hope  to  send  him  a 
contrite  epistle  j  and  I  know  he  will  return  a  generous  pardon. 

W.  L.  Garrison  to  Miss  Harriet  Minot. 

BOSTON,  March  19,  1833.  MS. 

A  thought  has  just  occurred  to  me.  Suppose  I  should  visit 
Haverhill,  previous  to  my  departure  for  England :  is  it  proba 
ble  that  I  could  obtain  a  meeting-house  in  which  to  address  the 

1  His  opponents  bad  charged  him  with  seeking  the  repeal  of  the  Massachu 
setts  law  against  intermarriage  in  order  to  profit  by  it  in  taking  a  black 
wife. 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARKISON. 


28. 


CHAP.  X. 

1833- 


MS. 


March  30. 


MS. 


inhabitants  on  the  subject  of  slavery?  (probably  I  should  deem 
it  expedient  to  say  nothing  derogatory  to  the  Colonization 
Society.)  If  I  can  be  sure  of  a  house,  I  will  try  to  come  Sab 
bath  after  next.  I  will  consult  my  friend  Whittier,  and  see 
what  can  be  done. 

BOSTON,  March  26,  1833. 

I  have  written  to  Whittier  respecting  my  visit  to  Haverhill, 
but  have  heard  nothing  from  him.  Nevertheless,  I  shall  visit 
your  beautiful  village  on  Saturday  next,  even  should  no 
arrangements  be  made  for  the  delivery  of  an  address. 

BOSTON,  April  3,  1833. 
Although  it  is  midnight,  and  in  a  few  hours  I  expect  to  bid 
adieu  to  Boston,  yet  I  cannot  consent  to  woo 

"  Tired  Nature's  sweet  restorer,  balmy  sleep," 

until  I  express  to  you — very  imperfectly,  indeed — the  pleasure 
which  I  received  from  my  recent  visit  to  Haverhill.  Beautiful 
village  !  it  has  almost  stolen  my  heart.  .  .  . 

During  my  brief  sojourn  in  H.,  my  spirit  was  as  elastic  as  the 
breeze,  and,  like  the  lark,  soared  steadily  upward  to  the  gates 
of  heaven,  carolling  its  notes  of  joy.  How  invigorating  was 
the  atmosphere  !  how  bright  the  sun !  how  cheerful  each  field 
and  hill !  how  magnificent  the  landscape !  What  have  I  not 
lost  by  a  residence  in  this  "  populous  solitude" — this  city  of 
bustle,  dust  and  bricks ! 

But,  pleasant  as  it  is  to  behold  the  face  of  Nature,  it  has  no 
beauty  like  the  countenance  of  a  beloved  friend.  Sweet  is  the 
song  of  birds,  but  sweeter  the  voices  of  those  we  love.  To  see 
my  dear  Whittier  once  more,  full  of  health  and  manly  beauty, 
was  pleasurable  indeed. 

It  would,  perhaps,  be  difficult  to  find  equally  rapturous 
praise  of  a  New  England  landscape  in  March  from  a 
Ante,  p.  34.  runaway  apprentice  revisiting  the  scene  of  his  mis 
directed  training.  Mr.  Whittier,  it  should  be  said,  had 
abated  nothing  of  his  friendship,  having  already  in  his 
portfolio  a  poetical  tribute  to  Mr.  Garrison  which  he 
withheld  from  print  till  after  their  interview.  He  secured 
the  church  for  the  Sunday  discourse,  and  though 

"Too  quiet   seemed  the  man  to  ride  the  winged   Hippogriff 
Reform," 


JET.  28.]  PRUDENCE    CKANDALL.  333 

his  anti-slavery  earnestness  was  soon  after  publicly  testi 
fied  by  a  pamphlet  issued  in  June,  entitled,  '  Justice  and  Lib.  3 : 99. 
Expediency;  or,  Slavery  considered  with  a  view  to  its 
rightful  Remedy,  Abolition.7  The  news  of  this  weighty 
accession  to  the  cause  Mr.  Garrison  heard  with  rejoicing 
while  in  England. 

Leave-taking  began  at  the  quarterly  meeting  of  the 
New-England  Anti-Slavery  Society  held  March  25  in  the 
Hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  at  which  Mr.  Gar 
rison  offered  a  resolution  declaring  the  Colonization 
Society  a  hindrance  to  the  progress  of  emancipation,  and 
made  a  speech  in  support  of  this  view.  No  better  state 
ment  of  the  contrary  aims  of  the  two  organizations  could 
be  desired  than  that  involved  in  his  valedictory : 

"  Brethren  — Whether  I  shall  ever  again  have  an  opportunity  Lib.  3:51. 
to  address  you,  He  who  holds  the  winds  in  his  fists  and  the  seas 
in  the  hollow  of  his  hands,  alone  can  tell.  Whatever  may  be 
the  event  with  me,  see  to  it  that  you  grow  not  weary  in  well 
doing.  The  command  rests  upon  you  to  i  plead  the  cause  of  the 
poor  and  needy '  —  fulfil  it  in  the  letter  and  the  spirit.  Suffer  no 
discouragement  to  depress,  no  obstacle  to  hinder,  no  persecu 
tion  to  deter,  no  power  to  awe,  no  opposition  to  defeat  you 
in  your  great  and  glorious  enterprise.  Your  principles,  if 
cherished  and  vindicated,  cannot  fail  to  procure  for  you  a 
splendid  triumph.  Remember  that  He  who  is  for  you  is 
greater  than  they  who  are  against  you  —  and  that  this  is  a 
cause  in  which  one  shall  chase  a  thousand,  and  two  put  ten 
thousand  to  flight.  Shall  not  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  do 
right  ?  Shall  not  his  soul  be  avenged  on  such  a  nation  as  this  ? 
1  The  needy  shall  not  always  be  forgotten  —  the  expectation  of 
the  poor  shall  not  perish  forever.' 

"  While  the  Colonization  Society  is  striving  hard  to  suppress 
inquiry  and  discussion  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  be  sure  your 
selves  to  agitate  it  on  all  suitable  occasions.  While  that  Society 
is  endeavoring  to  cover  up  the  bloody  abominations  of  the  foul 
system,  fail  not  to  hold  up  those  abominations  to  the  gaze  of 
the  people  until  their  hearts  shall  sicken,  and  rivers  of  re 
pentant  tears  wash  away  the  pollutions  of  the  land.  While  that 
Society  is  constantly  alleviating  the  pressure  of  guilt  upon  the 
consciences  of  the  planters,  pile  upon  those  consciences  moun 
tains,  '  and  cut  away  the  props.1  While  that  Society  is  consulting 


334  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAEKISON.  [^T.  28. 


CHAP.  X.  the  convenience,  selfishness,  prejudice  and  cruelty  of  the  op- 
I  ~  pressor,  do  you  consult  nothing  but  truth  and  duty.  While  that 
Society  is  demanding  the  banishment  of  the  slaves  as  the  price 
of  freedom,  do  you  contend  for  their  freedom  and  education  at 
home.  While  that  Society  is  urging  a  slow,  imperceptible,  in 
definite  emancipation,  do  you  insist  upon  immediate  restitution. 
While  that  Society  is  persuading  the  people  of  the  free  States 
that  they  have  no  right  to  meddle  with  the  slave  system,  do  you 
show  the  people  that  they  are  constitutionally  involved  in  the 
guilt  and  danger  of  slavery  —  that,  consequently,  they  are  bound 
to  revise  and  alter  that  Cpnstitution,  and  release  themselves  from 
their  present  bloody  responsibility.  While  that  Society  is  main 
taining  that  here  the  colored  population  must  be  forever  use 
less,  degraded  and  miserable,  do  you  rebuke  the  spirit  of  pride 
and  prejudice,  and  encourage  that  population  to  aspire  after 
knowledge  and  to  hope  for  better  days.  While  that  Society  is 
aiming  to  cast  upon  the  shores  of  Africa  large  masses  of  igno 
rance  and  depravity  for  the  relief  of  this  country  and  —  the 
Christianization  of  that  continent,  do  you  pray  that  none  but  en 
lightened  and  Christian  missionaries  may  be  sent  thither  on 
errands  of  mercy.  And  while  you  feel  and  express  the  strongest 
moral  indignation,  in  view  of  the  conduct  of  Southern  oppres 
sors,  'be  angry,  and  sin  not'  —  cherish  nothing  but  the  most 
ardent  love  for  their  temporal  and  eternal  interests,  for  their 
bodies  and  souls.  Be  actuated  by  a  holy  zeal  and  boldness,  but 
repudiate  animal  passion  and  all  malignity." 

In  conclusion,  the  speaker  pointed  out  the  wonderful 
progress  of  the  anti-slavery  movement,  just  culminating 
across  the  water  in  the  impending  freedom  of  the  800,000 
slaves  in  the  British  West  Indies,  within  six  years  after 
the  doctrine  of  immediate  emancipation  had  been  em 
braced  by  British  philanthropists. 

On  the  2d  of  April  a  farewell  meeting  was  held  at  the 
Belknap-Street  Church,  when  Mr.  Garrison  read  an  ad 
dress  prepared  for  his  colored  friends,  and  subsequently 
repeated  to  them  in  many  cities.1  He  is  sad  at  parting, 

l  It  was  finally  printed  as  a  pamphlet  in  New  York.  It  had  other  than 
black  readers.  Frederick  A.  Hinton,  of  Philadelphia,  wrote  to  Isaac 
Knapp,  July  12,  1833  (MS.)  :  "  I  met  to-day  in  the  street  Charles  J.  Inger- 
soll,  Esq.,  a  gentleman  of  great  distinction,  who  stopped  me  and  told  me 
that  he  had  just  read  Garrison's  Address,  and  that  he  (Mr.  I.)  is  entirely 
with  G.  in  every  respect,  and  his  brother,  J.  E.  Ingersoll,  Esq.,  President 


JET.  28.] 


PKUDENCE   GRAND  ALL. 


335 


perhaps  for  the  last  time,  from  those  to  whom  he  owes  so 
much.  Yet  both  abroad  and  at  home  there  are  clearing 
skies  and  signs  of  great  promise  —  the  repentance  of 
Great  Britain,  the  heroism  of  the  abolitionists.  "  If  ever 
there  was  a  cause  which  established  the  disinterested 
ness  and  integrity  of  its  supporters,  yours  is  that  cause." 
The  national  attention  has  been  fixed  on  slavery.  "  What 
has  created  the  mighty  discussion  which  has  taken,  or  is 
taking,  place  in  almost  every  debating  society  or  lyceum 
throughout  the  Union,  and  which  cannot  cease  till  the 
cause  of  it,  SLAVERY,  is  overthrown?7'  The  truth  has 
found  a  prominent  medium  in  the  Liberator,  which  shall 
not  go  down  while  body  and  mind  endure.  Admit  its 
incendiary  character  :  it  is  a  rising  sun. 

"  But  the  Liberator  is  said  to  be  destructive  in  its  character 
and  tendency.  That  charge,  also,  I  admit  is  true.  It  is  put- 
ting  whole  magazines  of  truth  under  the  slave  system,  and  I 
trust  in  God  will  blow  it  into  countless  fragments,  so  that  not 
the  remnant  of  a  whip  or  chain  can  be  found  in  all  the  South, 
and  so  that  upon  its  ruins  may  be  erected  the  beautiful  temple 
of  freedom.  I  will  not  waste  my  strength  in  foolishly  endeavor 
ing  to  beat  down  this  great  Bastile  with  a  feather.  I  will  not 
commence  at  the  roof,  and  throw  off  its  tiles  by  piecemeal.  I 
am  for  adopting  a  more  summary  method  of  demolishing  it.  I 
am  for  digging  under  its  foundations,  and  springing  a  mine 
that  shall  not  leave  one  stone  upon  another.  I  leave  coloniza- 
tionists  to  pick  up  the  leaves  which  are  annually  shed  by  the 
Bohon  Upas  of  our  land,  with  the  vain  hope  of  exterminating 
it  j  but  as  for  myself,  I  choose  rather  to  assail  its  trunk  with  the 
axe  of  justice,  and  strike  with  all  my  nerve  such  blows  as  shall 
cause  'this  great  poison-tree  of  lust  and  blood,  and  of  all 
abominable  and  heartless  iniquity,  to  fall  before  it;  and  law 
and  love,  and  (jrod  and  man,  to  shout  victory  over  its  ruin.' 

"  But  the  Liberator  uses  very  hard  language,  and  calls  a 
great  many  bad  names,  and  is  very  harsh  and  abusive.  Pre 
cious  cant,  indeed  !  And  what  has  been  so  efficacious  as  this 

of  the  Select  Council,  is  also.  This  is  not  to  be  mentioned  out  of  confi 
dence."  Both  these  gentlemen,  sons  of  Jared  Ingersoll,  were  eminent 
lawyers,  and  afterwards  represented  their  State  in  Congress  ;  the  former 
as  a  Democrat,  the  latter  as  a  Whig.  Joseph  Reed  Ingersoll  was  appointed 
Minister  to  England  by  President  Fillmore. 


CHAP.  x. 


Address 

pfee  People 
of  Color, 

33 


336 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON. 


.  28. 


1833- 


Address 

Free  People 
of  Color, 


CHAP.  x.  hard  language  ?  Now,  I  am  satisfied  that  its  strength  of 
denunciation  bears  no  proportion  to  the  enormous  guilt  of  the 
slave  system.  The  English  language  is  lamentably  weak  and 
deficient  in  regard  to  this  matter.  I  wish  its  epithets  were 
heavier — I  wish  it  would  not  break  so  easily  —  I  wish  I  could 
denounce  slavery,  and  all  its  abettors,  in  terms  equal  to  then- 
infamy.  But,  shame  to  tell !  I  can  apply  to  him  who  steals  the 
liberties  of  hundreds  of  his  fellow-creatures,  and  lacerates 
their  bodies,  and  plunders  them  of  all  their  hard  earnings,  only 
the  same  epithet  that  is  applied  by  all  to  a  man  who  steals  a 
shilling  in  this  community.  I  call  the  slaveholder  a  thief 
because  he  steals  human  beings,  and  reduces  them  to  the 
condition  of  brutes  ;  and  I  am  thought  to  be  very  abusive !  I 
call  the  man  a  thief  who  takes  my  handkerchief  from  my 
pocket ;  and  all  the  people  shout,  *  Right !  right !  so  he  is  !'  and 
the  court  seizes  him  and  throws  him  into  prison.  Wonderful 
consistency!  .  .  . 

"  How,  then,  ought  I  to  feel,  and  speak,  and  write,  in  view 
of  a  system  which  is  red  with  innocent  blood,  drawn  from  the 
.  .  bodies  of  millions  of  my  countrymen  by  the  scourge  of  brutal 

p.  '12.  3  "  drivers  ; — which  is  full  of  all  uncleanness  and  licentiousness ;  — 
which  destroys  the  '  life  of  the  soul ' ;  —  and  which  is  too  hor 
rible  for  the  mind  to  imagine,  or  the  pen  to  declare  ?  How 
ought  I  to  feel  and  speak  ?  As  a  man !  as  a  patriot !  as  a 
philanthropist !  as  a  Christian  !  My  soul  should  be,  as  it  is,  on 
fire.  I  should  thunder — I  should  lighten.  I  should  blow  the 
trumpet  of  alarm,  long  and  loud.  I  should  use  just  such  lan 
guage  as  is  most  descriptive  of  the  crime.  I  should  imitate 
the  example  of  Christ^who,  when  he  had  to  do  with  people  of 
like  manners,  called  them  sharply  by  their  proper  names  — 
such  as,  an  adulterous  and  perverse  generation,  a  brood  of 
vipers,  hypocrites,  children  of  the  devil  who  could  not  escape 
the  damnation  of  hell.  .  .  .  No !  no !  I  never  will  dilute  or 
modify  my  language  against  slavery  —  against  the  plunderers 
of  my  fellow-men  —  against  American  kidnappers.  They  shall 
have  my  honest  opinions  of  their  conduct." 

He  appeals  to  them  against  the  charge  that  he  is 
inciting  them  to  revenge  against  the  whites,  whereas  he 
urges  their  mutual  improvement  through  association.1 

l  In  a  note  to  the  Address  at  this  point,  Mr.  Garrison  records  the  gratify 
ing  fact  that  immediately  at  the  close  of  its  delivery  in  Boston,  on  his 
recommendation  that  his  hearers  should  form  a  temperance  society,  114 


-ET.  28.]  PRUDENCE   CRANDALL.  337 

He  has  been  accused  of  unduly  exciting  their  hopes,  but  CHAP.  x. 
the  Colonization  Society  is  already  smitten  and  totter-  ^33. 
ing.  He  describes  the  nature  of  his  mission  to  England, 
"  at  the  unanimous  request  of  the  Managers  of  the  New- 
England  Anti-Slavery  Society,  and  satisfied  in  my  own 
mind,  after  great  consideration,  that  the  finger  of  Provi 
dence  points  out  the  way."  His  principal  object  is  to 
assist  in  raising  $50,000  for  the  National  Manual  Labor 
School,  by  invoking  the  cooperation  of  wealthy  philan 
thropists.  Another  is  to  head  off  Elliott  Cresson,  u  who 
has  been  long  in  the  country,  and  has  succeeded  in 
duping  the  British  people  out  of  large  sums  of  money  to 
promote  the  objects  of  the  brazen  handmaid  of  slavery." 

"Another  important  object  I  have  in  view  is,  to  establish  a      Address 
regular  correspondence  between  the  abolitionists  of  England    pf&People 
and  those  of  this  country,  and  to  secure  a  union  of  sentiment      of  Color, 
and  action.     Much  useful  information  may  be  obtained,  and       ^.'2i.33' 
many  valuable  anti-slavery  tracts  and  publications  collected 
for  distribution  among  us.     We  deem  it  important  to  learn, 
precisely,  the  methods  adopted  by  the  friends  of  abolition  in 
England,  in  operating  upon  public  sentiment  5  upon  what  prin 
ciples,  and  by  what  regulations,  their  anti-slavery  societies  are 
conducted;    in  what  manner  female  influence  has  been   so 
widely  secured,  and  so  powerfully  exerted  against   slavery ; 
and,  in  short,  to  gather  up  all  those  facts,  and  obtain  all  those 
instructions,  in  relation  to  this  great  cause  which  can  in  any 
degree  assist  us  in  destroying  the  monster  OPPRESSION,  and 
placing  your  whole  race  upon  a  footing  of  equality  with  the 
rest  of  the  world." 

The  Address,  whose  opening  was  figurative  and  florid, 
well  suited  to  a  colored  audience,  closed  with  exhorta 
tions  to  moral  behavior  during  his  absence,  and  to  faith 
in  the  God  of  Israel  in  Egypt. 

On  Friday,  April  5,  Mr.  Garrison  set  out  from  Boston. 
His  progress  up  to  his  embarkation  will  be  best  described 
in  extracts  from  his  private  correspondence,  as  the  Lib- 
males  and  females  subscribed,  and  when  he  left  the  city  150  had  agreed  to 
abstain  from  liquor.  "  Such  acts  as  these,  brethren,  give  me  strength  and 
boldness  in  your  cause." 

VOL.  I.— 22 


338 


WILLIAM  LLOYD   GARRISON. 


.  28. 


CHAP.  X. 

1833- 


erator  contained  but  few  particulars.  It  was  announced 
that  he  could  be  addressed  in  care  of  William  Goodell  at 
New  York : 


Henry  E.  Benson  to  Isaac  Knapp. 

MS.  PROVIDENCE,  April  9,  1833. 

We  had  a  very  short  but  delightful  visit  from  Mr.  Garrison 
last  week,  though  for  the  life  of  me  I  could  not  help  feeling 
sorrowful  on  reflecting  he  was  about  to  leave  us  for  so  long  a 
Aprils-  period.  On  Friday  evening  he  delivered  a  most  excellent 
address  before  a  large  and  highly  respectable  audience  of  our 
colored  inhabitants,  in  which  he  took  an  affecting  leave  of  them 
all.  After  the  meeting,  the  poor  creatures  wept  and  sobbed 
like  children — they  gathered  round  him  anxious  to  express 
then*  gratitude  for  what  he  had  done  for  them,  and  tell  him 
how  well  they  loved  him.  .  .  . 

On  Saturday  morning  your  partner  and  my  brother  started 
for  Brooklyn,  from  whence  he  probably  departed  on  Monday 
for  Hartford.  .  .  . 

P.  S.  My  brother  has  returned ;  says  our  friend  delivered  a 
highly  satisfactory  address  in  Mr.  May's  meeting-house  on  Sun 
day  evening,  and  has  removed  a  mountain  of  prejudice.  After 
April  8.  he  left  Brooklyn  Monday  noon,  a  sheriff  came  up  from  Canter 
bury  with  a  writ.  Do  not  know  whether  they  proceeded  to 
Hartford  after  him,  or  not ;  brother  said  he  could  not  ascertain. 
Believe  they  are  going  to  take  him  up  for  the  heading  put  to 
the  letter  of  March  12th,  respecting  the  town  meeting,  on  the 
ground  that  it  is  libellous.  My  father  says  he  will  see  that  he 
has  bonds  (if  necessary)  to  any  amount  required.1  Miss  Cran- 
dall  was  at  Brooklyn,  and  is  in  excellent  spirits. 


W.  L.  Garrison  to  Miss  Harriet  Minot. 

MS.  HARTFORD,  April  9,  1833. 

April  2.          On  Tuesday  evening  last  I  bade  farewell  to  my  colored  friends 

of  Boston,  in  a  public  address,  and  on  Friday  evening  to  the 

people  of  color  in  Providence.     On  both  occasions  the  highest 

interest  and  most  intense  feeling  were  felt  and  exhibited  by  the 

1  George  Benson  wrote  to  his  son  George,  April  11:  "I  cannot  conceive 
what  was  their  object  unless  to  embarrass  and  retard  his  [Garrison's] 
journey." 


28.] 


PRUDENCE  CRANDALL. 


339 


audience.  They  wept  freely  —  they  clustered  around  me  in 
throngs,  each  one  eager  to  receive  the  pressure  of  my  hand  and 
implore  Heaven's  choicest  blessings  upon  my  head.  You  can 
not  imagine  the  scene,  and  my  pen  is  wholly  inadequate  to 
describe  it.  As  I  stood  before  them,  and  reflected  it  might  be 
the  last  time  I  should  behold  them  on  earth,  ...  I  could 
not  but  feel  a  strong  depression  of  mind.  .  .  .  It  is  the 
lowness  of  their  estate,  in  the  estimation  of  the  world,  which 
exalts  them  in  my  eyes.  It  is  the  distance  which  separates 
them  from  the  blessings  and  privileges  of  society,  which  brings 
them  so  closely  to  my  affections.1  It  is  the  unmerited  scorn, 
reproach  and  persecution  of  their  persons,  by  those  whose  com 
plexion  is  colored  like  my  own,  that  command  for  them  my 
sympathy  and  respect.  It  is  the  fewness  of  their  friends,  and 
the  great  number  of  their  enemies,  that  induce  me  to  stand 
forth  in  their  defence,  and  enable  me,  I  trust,  to  exhibit  to  the 
world  the  purity  of  my  motives.  .  . 

On  Sabbath  evening,  I  delivered  an  address  to  a  large  and 
attentive  audience  of  white  people  in  Brooklyn,  where  I  have 
long  been  regarded  as  a  terrible  monster.  I  am  happy  to  learn 
that  the  effects  of  the  address  are  most  salutary. 

This  evening,  I  bid  farewell  to  the  colored  inhabitants  of 
Hartford,  in  their  meeting-house. 

To-morrow  I  start  for  New  Haven,  in  which  place  I  shall 
stay  two  or  three  days,  in  order  to  have  my  portrait  taken  and 
engraved  upon  steel.  This  I  do  reluctantly ;  but  my  friends 
are  imperious,  and  I  must  gratify  them.  This  sticking  up  one's 
face  in  print-shops,  to  be  the  "  observed  of  all  observers,"  is 
hardly  consistent  with  genuine  modesty,  but  I  can  in  no  other 
way  get  rid  of  the  importunities  of  those  who  would  pluck  out 
their  eyes  to  give  me. 

Rev.  Simeon  8.  Jocelyn  to  W.  L.  Garrison,  in  Boston. 

NEW  HAVEN,  March  29,  1833. 

I  am  desirous  to  have  you  sit  to  my  brother  for  a  portrait 
before  you  leave  for  England.  I  suppose  you  will  have  but 
little  time  for  such  a  purpose,  but  if  you  can  be  here  but  one  or 
two  days  he  can  get  the  likeness  and  finish  the  painting  after 
wards.  He  is  now  painting  a  portrait  of  Ashmun2  for  the 

1  "  Aux  plus  de'she'rite's  le  plus  d'amour." 

2  Jehudi  Ashmun,   the  militant  agent  of  the  American   Colonization 
Society,  who  went  out  to  Liberia  in  1822.     He  died,  after  his  return,  Aug. 
25,  1828. 


CHAP.  X. 

1833- 


April  7- 


April  9. 


April  10. 


MS. 


340 


WILLIAM  LLOYD   GARRISON. 


.  28. 


CHAP.  X.  Colonization  Society,  which  is  to  be  engraved.  It  is  my  design 
ZZ"3  to  engrave  yours  whilst  you  are  in  England,  and  publish  the 
print.  I  have  long  thought  that  your  friends  and  foes  would 
view  your  portrait  with  interest;  and  as  the  Lord  has  been 
pleased  to  give  you  a  head  bearing  none  of  the  destructive  dis 
position  which  opposers  ascribe  to  you,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to 
lead  them  by  a  view  of  the  outward  man  to  a  more  favorable 
examination  of  your  principles.  I  am  confident  that  this  is  the 
effect  where  your  face  is  seen,  and  why  not  where  its  imitation 
should  be  viewed  ?  I  hope,  for  the  pleasure  of  your  friends,  at 
all  events,  that  you  will  consent  to  spend  a  day  or  two  here  in 
the  way  proposed.  Besides,  as  my  brother  is  acquainted  in 
London,  and  with  one  of  the  principal  an  ti-  slavery  men, 
William  Allen,  you  may  perhaps  spend  your  time  with  him  to 
advantage.  I  am  anxious  to  see  you  on  various  accounts.  .  .  . 
I  hope  you  will  get  back  as  soon  as  is  consistent.  We  shall 
have  a  rough  time,  probably,  before  the  year  is  out.  The 
struggle  will  be  great,  no  doubt,  bat  God  will  redeem  the  cap 
tives.  .  .  .  We  are  all  determined  to  sustain  Miss  Crandall 
if  there  is  law  in  the  land  enough  to  protect  her.  She  is  a 
noble  soul.  .  .  .  Miss  C.  has  no  doubt  more  praying  friends 
in  the  United  States  drawn  to  her  by  her  persecutions  than  the 
whole  number  of  the  population  of  Canterbury.  .  .  .  Should 
not  some  course  be  taken  for  publishing  another  edition  of 
your  '  Thoughts  '  previous  to  your  return  ? 


at  the  close. 


W.  L.  Garrison  to  Isaac  Knapp. 

MS.   The  NEW  HAVEN,  April  11,  1833. 

According  to  appointment,  I  addressed  our  colored  friends  in 
Providence  on  Friday  evening  last  ;  and  although  they  had  but 
a  short  notice,  they  gave  me  a  large  audience.  At  the  close  of 
the  address,  they  voluntarily  made  a  collection  in  aid  of  my 
mission,  which,  with  the  contributions  of  some  white  friends, 
amounted  to  the  handsome  sum  of  thirty  dollars.  In  addition 
to  this,  the  colored  "  Mutual  Relief  Society  "  gave  $15.00,  at  the 
hands  of  their  Treasurer,  Ichabod  Northup.  The  colored  "  Fe 
male  Literary  Society  "  also  presented  me  $6.00,  and  the  colored 
"  Female  Tract  Society  "  $4.00  —  making,  in  all,  $55.00  !  —  All 
this  was  given,  too,  without  any  application  being  made  to  them. 
April  6.  On  Saturday,  friend  G.  W.  Benson  took  me  to  Brooklyn  in  a 
chaise,  where  I  tarried  until  Monday,  under  the  hospitable  roof 
of  his  parents.  My  excellent  brother  May  was  delighted  to  see 


.  28.] 


PRUDENCE   CRANDALL. 


341 


me,  and  my  pleasure  was  equally  great  in  taking  him  by  the 
hand.  I  did  not  expect  to  deliver  an  address  in  B.,  but  could 
not  easily  avoid  a  compliance  with  the  wishes  of  my  friends. 
Accordingly,  I  occupied  Mr.  May's  pulpit  on  Sabbath  evening 
last.  .  .  . 

Miss  Crandall,  having  obtained  information  that  I  was  to  hold 
forth,  came  up  from  Canterbury  with  her  sister  (a  beautiful 
girl,  by  the  way).  She  is  a  wonderful  woman,  as  undaunted 
as  if  she  had  the  whole  world  on  her  side.  She  has  opened  her 
school,  and  is  resolved  to  persevere.  I  wish  brother  Johnson 
to  state  this  fact,  particularly,  in  the  next  Liberator,  and  urge 
all  those  who  intend  to  send  their  children  thither,  to  do  so 
without  delay. 

The  stage  for  Hartford  on  Monday  morning  neglected  to  call 
for  me ;  and  half  an  hour  had  elapsed,  after  its  departure,  be 
fore  I  was  aware  of  the  fact.  As  time  was  precious,  I  took  a 
common  wagon,  and  followed  on  in  pursuit,  and  at  the  end  of 
the  seventh  mile  overtook  the  stage.  I  was  in  a  wretched  plight, 
covered  over  with  mud,  and  wet  —  for  it  rained  heavily.  I  ar 
rived  in  Hartford  late  that  evening,  and  the  next  morning 
thought  of  starting  for  New  Haven ;  but,  at  the  urgent  solicita 
tions  of  the  colored  friends,  I  gave  them  an  address  in  the 
evening  in  their  church.  They  collected  four  dollars.  On 
Wednesday  morning,  I  took  the  stage  for  New  Haven.  On 
passing  through  Middletown,  I  saw  the  Rev.  J.  C.  Beman  and 
a  few  other  colored  friends,  and  it  was  with  as  much  difficulty 
as  reluctance  I  tore  myself  from  their  company.  I  was  disap 
pointed  in  not  seeing  friend  Jocelyn  in  New  Haven,  as  he  had 
gone  to  New  York ;  but  his  brother  gave  me  a  welcome,  and 
commenced  upon  my  portrait.  To-day  noon  (Friday)  I  start 
for  New  York,  but  shall  pass  on  to  Philadelphia  without  delay. 
I  must  return  to  New  Haven  again  to  address  the  colored  peo 
ple,  and  have  my  portrait  completed.  Friend  Robert  B.  Hall 
has  been  very  attentive. 

PHILADELPHIA,  April  17,  1833. 

This  letter  was  begun  in  New  Haven,  and  must  now  be  com 
pleted  in  this  city.  No  doubt  you  are  all  scolding  about  me 
heartily.  I  arrived  here  on  Saturday,  and  found  friend  Sharp  - 
less  and  his  family  in  good  health.  Last  evening,  I  gave  an 
address  to  the  colored  people.  The  audience  was  pretty  large, 
but  the  colored  Philadelphians,  as  a  body,  do  not  evince  that 
interest  and  warmth  of  attachment  which  characterize  my 


CHAP.  X. 

1833- 

April  7. 


Almira 
Crandall. 


Oliver  John 
son. 


April  8. 


April  9. 


April  10. 


S.  S.  Joce- 
lyn. 

April  12. 


April  13. 


342 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKKISON. 


.  28. 


CHAP.  X. 
1833- 


April  ig. 
April  22. 

Geo. Bourne. 


S.  S.  Joce- 
lyn. 


Boston  friends  —  nor  is  it  to  be  expected,  as  I  have  associated 
with  scarcely  a  dozen  of  their  number.  I  have  not,  as  yet, 
made  any  call  upon  them  for  pecuniary  assistance  in  aid  of 
my  mission,  but  shall  consult  to-day  or  to-morrow  with  friends 
Forten,  Cassey,  Hinton,  Purvis,  etc.  I  am  glad  to  find  that  the 
mission  meets  with  a  general  approval.  At  the  request  of  Mr. 
Purvis,  I  have  been  sitting  for  my  portrait,  and  the  artist 
(Brewster)  *  has  succeeded  pretty  well.  On  Friday  morning,  I 
start  for  New  York,  where  I  shall  tarry  until  Monday  morning, 
and  then  go  to  New  Haven,  in  company  with  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Bourne.  I  shall  sail  in  the  packet  for  Liverpool  for  May  1st, 
provided  the  necessary  funds  be  raised  and  my  enemies  do  not 
throw  any  hindrances  in  my  path. 

I  saw  brother  Jocelyn  in  New  York.  He  showed  me  a  letter 
which  he  had  just  received  from  Miss  Crandall,  in  which  she 
stated  that  I  had  not  left  Brooklyn  more  than  half  an  hour  be 
fore  a  sheriff  from  Canterbury  drove  up  to  the  door  of  Mr. 
Benson  at  full  speed,  having  five  writs  against  me  from  Andrew 
T.  Judson  and  company;  and  finding  that  I  had  gone,  he 
pursued  after  me  for  several  miles,  but  had  to  give  up  the  chase. 
No  doubt  the  Colonization  party  will  resort  to  some  base  meas 
ures  to  prevent,  if  possible,  my  departure  for  England.  .  .  . 

I  wish  the  Board  of  Managers  to  give  me  a  letter  of  intro 
duction  to  James  Cropper. 


W.  L.  Garrison  to  Miss  Harriet  Minot. 

MS.  PHILADELPHIA,  April  22,  1833. 

April  19.  On  Friday  afternoon  I  arrived  in  New  York  from  this  city, 
and  had  the  pleasure  of  receiving  your  favor  of  the  9th  inst.  I 
was  immediately  told  that  the  enemies  of  the  abolition  cause 
had  formed  a  conspiracy  to  seize  my  body  by  legal  writs  on 
some  false  pretences,  with  the  sole  intention  to  convey  me 
South  and  deliver  me  up  to  the  authorities  of  Georgia, —  or,  in 
other  words,  to  abduct  and  destroy  me.  The  agent  who  was  to 
carry  this  murderous  design  into  operation,  had  been  in  New 
York  several  days,  waiting  my  appearance.  As  a  packet  was 
to  sail  the  next  day  for  Liverpool  from  Philadelphia,  my 

1  Edmund  Brewster,  uncle  of  the  eminent  lawyer  (President  Arthur's 
Attorney-General)  Benjamin  H.  Brewster.  The  painting,  less  than  life- 
size,  has  been  lost  sight  of,  but  copies  of  a  lithograph  made  from  it  by  the 
artist  himself  are  still  preserved.  This  print  is  by  no  means  flattering  to 
the  subject  of  it,  and  was  regarded  at  the  time  as  a  failure. 


.  28.] 


PKUDENCE   CKANDALL. 


343 


friends  advised  me  to  start  early  the  next  morning  for  this 
city,  in  the  steamboat,  hoping  I  might  arrive  in  season  to  take 
passage  therein,  and  thus  baffle  the  vigilance  of  the  enemy  — 
but  the  ship  sailed  in  the  morning,  and  I  did  not  get  here  till 
the  afternoon ;  consequently,  I  failed  to  accomplish  my  pur 
pose.  My  only  alternative,  therefore,  is,  to  return  again  to 
New  York  to-morrow  evening,  and  stealthily  get  away,  if 
possible,  in  the  Liverpool  packet1  that  sails  the  next  morning. 
Probably  I  shall  not  start  in  the  ship,  but  go  down  the  river  in 
a  pilot-boat  and  overtake  her. 

My  friends  are  full  of  apprehension  and  disquietude ;  but  I 
cannot  know  fear.  I  feel  that  it  is  impossible  for  danger  to  awe 
me.  I  tremble  at  nothing  but  my  own  delinquencies,  as  one 
who  is  bound  to  be  perfect,  even  as  my  heavenly  Father  is 
perfect. 

The  second  trip  from  New  York  to  Philadelphia  was, 
perhaps,  made  by  the  usual  route,  namely,  by  steamboat 
to  Amboy,  cars  to  Bordentown,  N.  J.,  and  steamboat 
again  to  Philadelphia.  The  return  was  by  another,  with 
a  view  to  eluding  possible  pursuit.  Robert  Purvis,  act 
ing  on  the  suggestion  of  Lewis  Tappan,  drove  Mr.  Gar 
rison  with  a  fast  horse  to  Trenton,  some  thirty  miles,  in 
three  hours.  Before  reaching  this  place  an  incident 
occurred  more  full  of  peril  than  the  machinations  of  kid 
nappers  and  colonizationists.  A  passing  steamboat  on 
the  Delaware  excited  Mr.  Garrison's  curiosity  to  witness 
the  pretty  spectacle  from  a  nearer  point  than  the  river 
road.  Mr.  Purvis  accordingly  turned  his  horse  to  the 
bank,  where  the  view  was  unobstructed,  but  when  driven 
away  the  jaded  animal  refused  to  go  forward  and  began 
to  back.  Realizing  the  danger,  Mr.  Purvis  jumped  from 
the  carriage,  but  Mr.  Garrison  sat  in  apparent  indiffer 
ence  (probably  the  helplessness  he  always  felt  when 
behind  an  unruly  horse)  until  roused  by  the  sharp  ap 
peal  of  his  friend  —  "  Sir,  if  you  do  not  get  out  instantly 
you  will  be  killed" — when  he,  too,  made  a  timely  escape, 
the  horse  being  stopped  just  on  the  brink.2 

1  Probably  the  Canada  (see  Abdy's  'Journal  of  a  Residence  in  the  U.  S.,' 
London,  1835,  1:1-14). 

2  Related  by  Mr.  Purvis  in  1881. 


CHAP.  X. 
1833- 

April  20. 
April  23. 


344  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON.  [Mi.  28. 

CHAP.  x.  From  New  York  Mr.  Garrison  proceeded  once  more  to 
X8j3>  New  Haven,  to  renew  his  sittings  to  Nathaniel  Jocelyn,1 
which  lasted  three  days.  During  this  time  he  was  kept 
shut  up  by  the  artist  in  a  room  adjoining  the  studio,  so 
arranged  that  in  case  of  an  attempt  to  seize  him  he 
could  make  a  safe  exit.  Without  such  precautions,  in  a 
city  swarming  with  colonizationists  and  where  his  per 
son  was  known  to  many,  it  would  have  been  foolhardy 
to  venture  within  reach  of  the  truculent  Judson,  whom 
he  may  well  have  passed  on  the  way  thither.  "  I  hope," 
wrote  Almira  Crandall  to  Henry  Benson,  from  Canter- 
MS.  bury,  on  April  30,  athat  our  friend  Garrison  will  be 
enabled  to  escape  the  fury  of  his  pursuers.  Our  anxieties 
for  him  were  very  great  at  the  time  Judson  went  to  New 
York,  as  we  expected  his  business  was  to  take  Mr.  G." 
Despite  this  and  all  other  dangers,  the  time  was  con 
sumed  without  molestation  until  the  packet  was  ready 
to  be  boarded. 

W.  L.  Garrison  to  Miss  Harriet  Minot. 

MS.  BELOW  THE  HARBOR  OF  NEW  YORK, 

May  1,  1833. 

I  am  now  fairly  embarked  for  Liverpool,  on  board  the  ship 
Hibernia,  Captain  Maxwell.  We  lie  about  ten  miles  below 
the  city,  at  anchor;  and  here  we  must  remain  twenty-four 
hours.  .  .  . 

1  Originally  an  engraver,  and  one  of  the  founders  of  the  National  Bank 
Note  Co.  Afterwards  he  devoted  himself  to  painting,  and  quickly  achieved 
distinction  by  his  portraiture.  He  died  Jan.  13,  1881,  not  long  surviving 
his  brother,  who  died  August  17,  1879,  and  with  whose  anti-slavery  senti 
ments  and  endeavors  he  was  in  the  fullest  sympathy.  The  circumstance 
of  Mr.  Garrison's  concealment  was  related  by  him  in  August,  1879.  The 
steel  engraving  was  published  in  the  spring  of  1834.  On  April  23,  Mr. 
Garrison  expressed  himself  in  regard  to  it  as  follows  to  G.  W.  Benson :  "I 
have  just  received  my  portrait  as  engraved  by  my  dear  friend  Jocelyn,  and 
am  sorry  to  say  that  all  who  have  seen  it  agree  with  me  in  the  opinion  that 
it  is  a  total  failure.  I  am  truly  surprised  that,  familiar  as  he  is  with  my 
features,  he  has  erred  so  widely  in  his  attempt  to  delineate  them.  On  his 
account,  too,  I  am  sorry,  for  he  will  fail  to  make  such  a  sale  of  the  picture 
as  will  remunerate  him  for  his  labor — at  least,  I  presume  this  will  be  the 
fact "  (MS. )  The  plate  was  afterwards  retouched,  but  still  left  too  much  to 
be  desired. 


JET.  28.] 


PRUDENCE   CBANDALL. 


345 


CHAP.  X. 

1833- 


April  30. 


Since  the  transmission  of  my  last  letter,  I  have  been  journey 
ing  from  place  to  place,  rather  for  the  purpose  of  defeating  the 
designs  of  my  enemies,  than  from  choice.  I  expected  to  have 
sailed  in  the  packet  of  the  24th  ult.,  but  applied  too  late,  as 
every  berth  had  been  previously  engaged.  I  do  not  now 
regret  the  detention,  as  it  enabled  the  artist  at  New  Haven  to 
complete  my  portrait  j  and  I  think  he  has  succeeded  in  making 
a  very  tolerable  likeness.  To  be  sure,  those  who  imagine  that 
I  am  a  monster,  on  seeing  it  will  doubt  or  deny  its  accuracy, 
seeing  no  horns  about  the  head  j  but  my  friends,  I  think,  will 
recognize  it  easily.  .  .  . 

Last  evening  I  had  a  large  audience  of  colored  persons  in 
the  Methodist  African  Church  in  New  York,  who  came  to  hear 
my  farewell  address.  Alas,  that  the  value  of  my  labors  in 
their  behalf  bears  so  small  a  proportion  to  their  unbounded 
gratitude  and  love !  —  Mr.  Finley,  the  General  Agent  of  the 
Colonization  Society,  was  present,  and  witnessed  a  tremendous 
assault  upon  his  darling  scheme. 

The  pursuit  was  not  given  over  till  the  last  moment. 
"  About  two  and  a  half  hours  after  friend  Garrison 
went  on  board  the  ship,"  reports  Arnold  Buffum,  who  Lib.  3:75. 
had  gone  to  New  York  to  see  him  off,  "  inquiry  was 
made  for  him  by  a  lad  from  a  lawyer's  office,  from 
which  we  conclude  that  the  distinguished  gentlemen  of 
Canterbury  were  in  pursuit  of  him ;  but  they  happened 
to  be  a  little  too  late." 1  Before  the  winds  themselves 
abandoned  their  opposition,  Mr.  Garrison  addressed  a 
farewell  letter  to  William  Goodell,  for  publication  in  his 
Moral  Daily  Advertiser,  embracing  "  a  few  poetical  lines  Lib.  3 : 75. 
which  have  been  composed  in  great  haste," —  a  sonnet, 
namely,  beginning 

"  Unto  the  winds  and  waves  I  now  commit 
My  body,  subject  to  the  will  of  Heaven," 

—  and  the  testamentary  injunction  :  "  The  grand  object 

l  "  Prior  to  sailing  from  New  York,  I  was  watched  and  hunted,  day  after 
day,  in  that  city,  in  order  that  the  writ  might  be  served  xipon  me  ;  but  my 
old  friend,  Arthur  Tappan,  took  me  into  an  upper  chamber  in  the  house  of 
a  friend,  where  I  was  safely  kept,  under  lock  and  key,  until  the  vessel 
sailed  which  conveyed  me  to  England"  (Speech  of  W.  L.  G.,  at  the  20th 
anniversary  of  the  Boston  Mob,  p.  11 ;  also,  Lib.  25: 173). 


346  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKKISON.  [^ET.  28. 


CHAP.  x.  now  to  be  aimed  at  is  the  formation  of  a  National  Anti- 
IsJ3.  Slavery  Society,  after  which  auxiliary  associations  may 
be  multiplied  without  difficulty."  One  such  association 
he  found  hesitating  to  form  itself  in  New  York  City,  on 
account  of  a  hostile  and  lawless  public  sentiment.  It 
must  be  organized,  he  said,  and  his  words  gave  the 
needed  resolution.1  For  the  national  organization,  not 
only  his  inspiration  but  his  presence  was  deemed  indis 
pensable. 

So,  all  adieus  uttered,  every  duty  discharged,  and  every 
care  removed,2  the  special  agent  of  the  New-England 
Anti-Slavery  Society  sailed  out  of  the  harbor  of  New 
York  on  the  second  day  of  May,  1833.3  A  young  man,  not 
yet  twenty-eight  ;  without  means  or  social  standing  or  a 
numerous  following;  despised,  hated,  hunted  with  a 
price  upon  his  head  ;  armed  only  with  the  blessings  of 
an  outcast  race  and  the  credentials  of  an  insignificant 
body  of  "fanatics,"  was  to  present  himself  before  the 
honorable,  powerful,  and  world-famous  advocates  of 
British  emancipation  —  before  Clarkson  and  Wilberf  orce 
and  Macaulay  and  Buxton  —  in  the  midst  of  their  par 
liamentary  triumph,  and  before  the  British  public, 
in  opposition  to*  a  society  which,  with  all  its  lying 
pretences,  could  truthfully  say  of  itself  through  its 
emissary,  Cresson,  that  it  had  the  support  of  the  wealth, 
the  respectability  and  the  piety  of  the  American  people. 
If  ever  a  sense  of  personal  littleness  and  deficiency  was 
natural,  it  was  here.  But  on  the  other  hand  the  task  was 
less  formidable  than  that  which  the  youth  was  leaving 
behind  him  ;  the  potency  of  the  truth  was  the  same  on 
both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  j  already  acquaintances  and 

1  Belated  by  William  Green  in  1880. 

2  The  accommodation  of  a  letter  of  credit  was  effected  through  Arthur 
Tappan  (MS.  March  22,  1833). 

3  "As  soon  as  he  had  sailed,  a  cross-fire  of  abuse  was  opened  by  the 
morning  and  evening  papers  upon  him  and  all  connected  with  him,  — 
'the  fanatic'  Garrison  and  his  'crazy'  coadjutors  ree'choed  through  the 
columns  of  the  journals,  which  were  thus,  by  exciting  discussion,  giving 
activity  to  the  cause  they  were  trying  to  smother  "  (Abdy's  '  Journal  of  a 
Residence,'  1:15). 


^BT.  28.]  PRUDENCE   CBANDALL.  347 

introductions  had  been  prepared  for  him  ;  and  the  expec-  CHAP.  x. 
tation  of  meeting  the  abolition  apostles  whose  names  he  ^^ 
spoke  only  with  reverence,  and  whose  example  he  strove 
to  imitate,  'with  their  coadjutors  of  all  ranks  and 
degrees,  could  only  have  had  an  exhilarating  effect  on 
his  imagination.  All  difference  of  station,  fortune,  and 
training  vanished  in  the  equality  which  the  anti-slavery 
cause  gave  to  its  promoters  everywhere,  and  left  no  room 
for  anything  but  a  manly  self-confidence  and  a  manly 
ambition  for  recognition  in  the  cause.  To  these  reasons 
for  buoyancy  of  feeling  at  starting,  must  be  added  Mr. 
Garrison's  discovery  that  his  affections  were  at  last  cap 
tivated.  A  new  image  haunted  and  consoled  him  amid 
the  physical  discomforts  of  the  voyage. 


CHAPTER  XL 

FIRST  MISSION  TO  ENGLAND.  —  1833. 


CHAP.  XL  fT^HE  passage  was  a  reasonably  short  one,  of  twenty 
1833.  J_  days,  but  "  inexpressibly  wearisome  both  to  flesh 

Lib.  3  :  107.  and  spirit,"  for  Mr.  Garrison  was  seasick  within  sight  of 
Sandy  Hook,  leading  all  his  fellow-passengers,  and  for 
the  first  week  was  unable  to  take  food.  He  arrived  out 
at  Liverpool  on  May  22,  and  found  the  daily  press  filled 

£^.3:110,  with  the  absorbing  topic  of  the  hour  —  abolition  in  the 
colonies.  It  was  universally  conceded  that  slavery  had 
received  its  death-blow  since  Lord  Stanley's  introduction 
of  the  ministerial  measure  in  the  House  of  Commons  on 
May  14.  Petitions  were  crowding  in  upon  Parliament 
from  all  parts,  including  some  monster  ones  signed  by  the 
women  of  Great  Britain.  Debate  had  been  adjourned 
to  May  30,  and  the  friends  of  the  bill,  in  their  anxiety  to 
insure  its  passage,  accepted  the*features  of  apprenticeship 
and  compensation,  which  made  it  seem  to  Mr.  Garrison 
a  go-between  plan,  worthy  rather  to  be  denounced  than 
seconded.  However,  it  was  clear  that  he  was  unexpect 
edly  to  witness  the  closing  scenes  of  the  greatest  moral 
struggle  of  modern  times,  and  he  hastened  to  present 
himself  at  the  home  of  James  Cropper.  But  Cropper, 
like  a  true  soldier,  was  on  the  battle-field,  having  charged 
his  sons  to  receive  his  American  guest,  which  they  did 

zd  Annual  with  great  cordiality,  introducing  him  "  to  several  worthy 
sFr  friends,  of  both  sexes,"  all  of  whom  hailed  his  visit  "  as 
/•  32-  singularly  providential.7'  Some  four  days  were  spent  in 
the  city,  of  which  Mr.  Garrison  gives  his  impressions  in 
a  manuscript  fragment  dated  May  27,  1833  : 


28.] 


FIKST   ENGLISH   MISSION. 


349 


The  population   of    Liverpool,   including   its   suburbs,   is    CHAP.  XI. 


about  as  large  as  that  of  New  York.  I  have  had  but  a  cursory 
view  of  the  place,  and  shall  therefore  avoid  entering  into  the 
minute  in  my  descriptions.  Let  this  suffice :  it  is  bustling, 
prosperous,  and  great.  I  would  not,  however,  choose  it  as  a 
place  of  residence.  It  wears  strictly  a  commercial  aspect ;  and 
you  well  know  there  is  nothing  of  trade  or  barter  in  my  dis 
position.  Indeed,  nothing  surprises  me  so  much  on  approach 
ing  Boston,  after  a  short  exile  from  it,  (and  I  am  always  in 
exile  when  absent,)  as  a  glimpse  at  its  shipping  j  for  I  gene 
rally  feel  as  little  inclined  to  visit  its  wharves  as  to  make  a 
pilgrimage  to  Mecca.  My  instinct  and  taste  prefer  hills  and 
valleys,  and  trees  and  flowers,  to  bales  and  boxes  of  merchan 
dize  j  and  tiny  cataracts  and  gentle  streams,  to  sublime  water 
spouts  and  the  great  ocean.  Hence,  another  place  for  me  than 
Liverpool ;  and  such  a  place  I  could  easily  find,  in  almost  any 
direction,  within  a  few  miles  of  it  —  that  is  to  say,  if  I  were 
friendly  to  colonization.  My  excellent  friend  James  Cropper 
has  a  delightful  retreat,  called  Dingle  Bank,  which  nature  and 
art  have  embellished  in  the  most  attractive  manner.  This 
great  and  good  man  is  now  in  London,  but  there  has  been  no 
lack  of  hospitality  toward  me  on  the  part  of  those  whom  he  has 
left  behind.  I  have  also  been  very  kindly  entertained  by 
James  Riley,  a  worthy  and  much  respected  member  of  the  So 
ciety  of  Friends.  My  obligations  to  Thomas  Thorneley,  Esq., 
and  Dr.  Hancock,  (the  former,  late  the  Parliamentary  candi 
date  of  the  friends  of  emancipation,  and  the  latter,  a  consistent 
advocate  of  the  cause  of  Peace,)  likewise  deserve  a  public 
acknowledgment." 

Proceeding  to  London,  to  lay  his  credentials  before 
the  Anti-Slavery  Society,  and  to  secure  its  advice  and 
cooperation,  Mr.  Garrison  "  took  a  seat  in  one  of  the 
railroad  cars77  —  his  first  experience  —  "  and  was  almost 
too  impetuously  conveyed  to  Manchester,77  where  he  tar 
ried  only  for  a  few  hours,  going  thence  by  coach  to  the 
11  august  abode  of  the  congregated  humanity  of  the 
world.77  The  Report  proceeds  : 

"  As  in  duty  bound,  both  by  my  instructions  and  my  obliga 
tions  of  gratitude,  I  immediately  called  upon  James  Cropper, 
in  Finsbury  Circus,  at  whose  hands  I  experienced  the  utmost 
hospitality  and  kindness,  and  from  whose  lips  I  received  con- 


1833- 


•zd  Annual 

Report  N.E. 

A.  S.  S., 

P-3S- 


Ibid. 


350  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARKISON.  [^Ex.  28. 

CHAP.  XI.  gratulations  upon  my  arrival  at  the  very  crisis  of  the  anti- 
!{jJ3_  slavery  cause  in  England.  He  informed  me  that  a  large 
number  of  delegates,  from  various  anti-slavery  societies  in  the 
kingdom,  were  then  in  London,  vigilantly  watching  the  prog 
ress  of  the  Abolition  Bill  through  Parliament ;  that  they  took 
breakfast  together  every  morning  at  the  Guildhall  Coffee 
House,  and  from  thence  adjourned  to  the  anti-slavery  rooms 
at  No.  18,  Aldermanbury,  for  the  purpose  of  devising  plans 
and  discussing  propositions  for  the  accomplishment  of  their 
grand  design ;  and  that  if  I  would  attend,  he  would  give  me  a 
general  introduction. 

"  My  heart  was  full  of  gratitude  to  him  for  his  kindness,  and 
to  God  for  ordering  events  in  a  manner  so  highly  auspicious. 
Accordingly,  I  was  prompt  in  my  attendance  at  the  Coffee 
House  the  next  morning.  About  sixty  delegates  were  present, 
most  of  whom  were  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends.*  After 
the  reading  of  a  portion  of  the  Scriptures,  breakfast  was  served 
up,  at  the  close  of  which  Mr.  Cropper  rose  and  begged  leave  to 
introduce  to  the  company  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  the  Agent 
of  the  New-England  Anti-Slavery  Society,  from  America.  He 
then  briefly  stated  the  object  of  my  mission,  and  expressed  a 
hope  that  I  would  be  permitted,  at  a  suitable  opportunity,  to 
lay  my  purposes  more  fully  before  them.  This  request  was 
afterwards  readily  granted.  They  individually  gave  me  a 
generous  welcome,  and  evinced  a  deep  interest  to  learn  the 
state  of  public  opinion  in  the  United  States  in  relation  to  the 
subject  of  slavery  and  the  merits  of  the  American  Colonization 
Society." 

A  further  glimpse  of  the  conferences  at  Aldermanbury 
is  given  in  a  letter  to  the  Board  of  Managers,  dated  Lon 
don,  June  20,  1833 : 

"*It  is  remarkable  that  while  the  Friends  in  England  have  been  the 
courageous  pioneers,  the  undaunted  standard-bearers,  in  the  anti-slavery 
conflict,  and  have  liberally  expended  their  wealth,  and  given  their  time  and 
talents,  to  achieve  a  victory  more  splendid  than  any  yet  recorded  in  the 
pages  of  history,  those  in  this  country  [United  States],  as  a  body,  seem  to 
have  degenerated  from  their  parent-stock,  to  have  measurably  lost  their 
primitive  spirit  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  and  to  have  become  ensnared  by 
wicked  prejudices,  and  by  a  cruel  scheme  to  banish  our  colored  population 
from  their  native  to  a  foreign  and  barbarous  land.  There  are  many  noble 
exceptions  to  this  remark ;  and  I  am  confident  that  ere  long  the  example  of 
the  Friends  in  England  will  stimulate  the  great  mass  of  those  who  reside 
in  this  country  to  '  go  and  do  likewise.' " 


JET.  28.]  FIRST   ENGLISH   MISSION.  351 

"  Some  of  the  debates  have  been  highly  piquant,  talented  and  Lib.  3 : 139. 
eloquent  —  all  of  them  pregnant  with  interest.  Among  the 
speakers  are  Lord  Sumeld,  Buxton,  Macaulay,1  Cropper,  Ste 
phen,  Gurney  and  Thompson.  Perfect  unanimity  of  sentiment 
as  to  the  wisest  course  to  be  pursued  is  not  to  be  expected  in 
so  large  a  body ;  but  whatever  differences  exist  in  regard  to 
the  Government  plan,  all  are  agreed  upon  these  two  funda 
mental  points  —  namely,  that  the  right  of  property  in  the  slaves 
shall  '  instantly  cease,  and  that,  whatever  relief  or  compensa 
tion  may  be  granted  to  the  planters,  no  part  of  it  shall  be  paid 
by  the  slaves.' " 

With  Buxton  Mr.  Garrison  had  had  a  curious  experi 
ence  : 

"  On  arriving  in  London  I  received  a  polite  invitation  by  letter  London 
from  Mr.  Buxton  to  take  breakfast  with  him.  Presenting  myself  ^  /  Qtt 
at  the  appointed  time,  when  my  name  was  announced,  instead  P-  38- 
of  coming  forward  promptly  to  take  me  by  the  hand,  he  scru 
tinized  me  from  head  to  foot,  and  then  inquired,  somewhat 
dubiously,  '  Have  I  the  pleasure  of  addressing  Mr.  Garrison,  of 
Boston,  in  the  United  States  "?  '  '  Yes,  sir,'  I  replied,  '  I  am  he ; 
and  I  am  here  in  accordance  with  your  invitation.'  Lifting  up 
his  hands  he  exclaimed,  l  Why,  my  dear  sir,  I  thought  you  were 
a  black  man  !  And  I  have  consequently  invited  this  company  of 
ladies  and  gentlemen  to  be  present  to  welcome  Mr.  Garrison, 
the  black  advocate  of  emancipation  from  the  United  States  of 
America  ! '  I  have  often  said  that  that  is  the  only  compliment 
I  have  ever  had  paid  to  me  that  I  care  to  remember,  or  to  tell 
of !  For  Mr.  Buxton  had  somehow  or  other  supposed  that  no 
white  American  could  plead  for  those  in  bondage  as  I  had 
done,  and  therefore  I  must  be  black !  " 

u  The  worthy  successor  of  Wilberforce,  our  esteemed 
friend  and  coadjutor,  Thomas  Fowell  Buxton,"  had  this 
picture  drawn  of  Mm  by  his  guest  on  his  return  to 
America : 

"Buxton  has  sufficient  fleshly  timber  to  make  two  or  three     Lib.  6:7. 
Wilberforces.     He  is  six  feet  and  a  half  in  height,  though  rather 
slender  than  robust.     What  a  formidable  leader  of  the  anti- 
slavery  cause  in  appearance !     We  always  felt  delighted  to  see 
him  rise  in  his  seat  in  Parliament  to  address  the  House,  for  his 

l  Zachary  Macaulay,  father  of  the  historian. 


352 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKKISON. 


28. 


CHAP.  XI. 

1833- 


Lib  3 : 139, 

and  zd  Ann. 

ReportN.E. 

A.  S.  S., 

p.  48. 


2d  Ann.  Re 
port  N.  E, 
A.  S.  S., 
p.  36. 


towering  form  literally  caused  his  pro-slavery  opponents  to 
*  hide  their  diminished  heads.'  He  is  a  very  good  speaker,  but 
not  an  orator :  his  manner  is  dignified,  sincere,  and  conciliat 
ing,  and  his  language  without  pretence.  But  he  has  hardly 
decision,  energy,  and  boldness  enough  for  a  leader.  His  be 
nevolent  desires  for  the  emancipation  of  the  colonial  slaves  led 
him  to  accede  to  a  sordid  compromise  with  the  planters,  and  he 
advocated  the  proposition  to  remunerate  these  enemies  of  the 
human  race,  and  to  buy  up  wholesale  robbery  and  oppression, 
not  on  the  ground  of  justice  but  o¥  expediency.  This  was  done 
in  opposition  to  the  remonstrances  of  the  great  body  of  English 
abolitionists,  and  it  furnishes  a  dangerous  precedent  in  the 
overthrow  of  established  iniquity  and  crime  throughout  the 
world.  The  results  of  the  bargain  do  not  [January,  1836]  reach 
Mr.  Buxton's  anticipations.  .  .  .  Still,  aside  from  this  false 
step,  Mr.  Buxton  deserves  universal  admiration  and  gratitude 
for  his  long-continued,  able  and  disinterested  efforts,  amidst 
severe  ridicule  and  malignant  opposition,  to  break  every  yoke 
and  set  the  oppressed  free." 

The  prevailing  excitement  over  West  India  emancipa 
tion  was  unfavorable  to  the  project  of  obtaining  aid  for 
the  Manual  Labor  School ;  and  by  the  advice  of  his  English 
friends,  Mr.  Garrison  practically  put  aside  the  leading 
object  of  his  mission.  There  remained  the  exposure  of 
Cresson,  who,  chancing  to  be  in  London,  was  disagree 
ably  surprised  by  the  tender  of  the  following  challenge : 

To  Mr.  Elliott  Cresson,  Agent  of  the  American 
Colonization  Society : 

SIR — I  affirm  that  the  American  Colonization  Society,  of 
which  you  are  an  Agent,  is  utterly  corrupt  and  prescriptive  in 
its  principles  j  that  its  tendency  is  to  embarrass  the  freedom  and 
diminish  the  happiness  of  the  colored  population  of  the  United 
States ;  and,  consequently,  that  you  are  abusing  the  confidence 
and  generosity  of  the  philanthropists  of  Great  Britain.  As  an 
American  citizen,  and  the  accredited  Agent  of  the  New-Eng 
land  Anti- Slavery  Society,  I  invite  you  to  meet  me  in  public 
debate  in  this  city,  to  discuss  the  following  Propositions  : 

1.  The  American  Colonization  Society  was  conceived,  per 
fected,  and  is  principally  managed,  by  those  who  retain  a 
portion  of  their  own  countrymen  as  slaves  and  property. 


.  28.] 


FIKST   ENGLISH   MISSION. 


353 


2.  Its  avowed  and  exclusive  object  is  the  colonization  of  the    CHAP.  XI. 
free  people  of  color,  in  Africa,  or  some  other  place.  tjjT 

3.  It  is  the  active,   inveterate,  uncompromising  enemy  of 
immediate  abolition,  and  deprecates  the  liberation  of  the  slaves 
except  on  condition  of  their  being  simultaneously  transported 
to  Africa. 

4.  It  maintains  that  possessors  of  slaves,  in  the  Southern 
States,  are  not  such  from  choice  but  necessity  ;    and  that,  of 
course,  they  are  not,  under  present  circumstances,  blameworthy 
for  holding  millions  of  human  beings  in  servile  bondage. 

5.  Its  tendency  is,  to  increase  the  value  of  the  slaves,  to  con 
firm  the  power  of  the  oppressors,  and  to  injure  the  free  colored 
population,  by  whom  it  is  held  in  abhorrence,  wherever  they 
possess  liberty  of  speech  and  the  means  of  intelligence. 

6.  It  is  influenced  by  fear,  selfishness  and  prejudice,  and 
neither  calls  for  any  change  of  conduct  on  the  part  of  the 
nation,  nor  has  in  itself  any  principle  of  reform. 

7.  Its  mode  of  civilizing  and  Christianizing  Africa  is  pre 
posterous  and  cruel,   and  calculated   rather   to   retard  than 
promote  the  moral  and  spiritual  improvement  of  her  benighted 
children. 

These  charges,  Sir,  are  grave  and  vital.  I  dare  you  to  attempt 
their  refutation.  Let  them  be  taken  up  in  their  present  order, 
and  each  discussed  and  decided  upon  separately.  And  may 
God  prosper  the  right ! 

Yours,  &c.,        WM.  LLOYD  GARRISON. 

18,  Addle-Street,  Aldermaribury,  June  4,  1833. 


This  letter  had  been  entrusted  by  the  writer  to  his 
esteemed  friend  Joseph  Phillips,  and  was  duly  "presented 
to  Mr.  Cresson,  who,  in  the  most  offensive  manner, 
refused  to  receive  it  from  Mr.  Phillips.  It  was  then 
tendered  him  by  Mr.  William  Horsenail,  of  Dover,  but  he 
declined  taking  it,  stating  that  arrangements  had  been 
made  with  Dr.  Hodgkin  and  Joseph  T.  Price  for  an  in 
terview  with  me.  Afterwards  it  was  presented  a  third 
time  by  Mr.  Jeremiah  Barrett,  and  again  rejected.  Mr. 
Cresson  was  finally  induced  to  receive  it  from  the  hands 
of  Mr.  Phillips,  in  the  presence  of  Messrs.  J.  T.  Price  and 
Emanuel  Cooper."  His  answer  simply  repeated  the  alle- 
YOL.  L—  23 


zd  Ann.  Re 

*"A.  s.  's.,' 
*'  37' 


354  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON.  [^T.  28. 

CHAP.  xi.  gation  that  lie  was  in  the  hands  of  his  friends,  above 
!8^3.  named,  to  whom  Mr.  Garrison  promptly  addressed  an 
enquiry  as  to  their  determination.  They  replied  that 
a  private  interview  "in  the  presence  of  a  few  friends 
impartially  chosen"  would  be  "desirable  in  the  first 
instance  j  "  but  Mr.  Garrison  rightly  looked  upon  this  as 
a  mere  ruse  to  avoid  a  public  meeting,  and  to  obscure 

zd  Ann.  Re-  the  fact  that  his  business  was  "  exclusively  with  the 
A.s.'s.l  British  people,  and  with  Mr.  Cresson  in  his  public 
capacity  as  the  Agent  of  the  American  Colonization  So 
ciety."  He  followed  up  his  advantage  by  an  open  letter 
in  the  London  Times,  repeating  the  challenge,  which 
equally  failed  of  effect.  The  sole  course  left  was  an  ex- 
parte  arraignment  of  the  Colonization  Society,  which  was 
appointed  at  the  Wesleyan  Chapel  of  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Price,1  in  Devonshire  Square,  for  Monday  evening,  June 
10,  1833. 

Lib.  3 : 126.  At  this  meeting,  presided  over  by  James  Cropper,  Mr. 
Cresson  was  present,  no  doubt  reluctantly,  and  certainly 
ill-advisedly.  For  when  the  lecturer,  after  depicting  the 
Colonization  Society  in  the  vein  of  his  '  Thoughts/  told 
how  Clarkson  had  been  deceived  by  its  agent  assuring 
him  that  its  first  object  was  to  emancipate  all  the  slaves, 
the  chairman  interrupted  him,  saying  that  this  was  a 
grave  charge  ;•  Mr.  Cresson  was  present  —  would  he  ad 
mit  or  deny  having  made  such  a  statement  ?  Cresson 
answered  that  he  had  done  so, —  a  confession  dictated 
not  more  by  candor  than  by  necessity,  for  Mr.  Garrison 
Report  of  was  able  to  hand  Mr.  Cropper  a  pamphlet  to  which 
*Soc./or  '  Cresson  had  furnished  an  introduction,  declaring  that 
"'  the  great  object  of  the  Colonization  Society  is  the  final 
and  entire  abolition  of  slavery" ;  and  Mr.  George  Thomp 
son  cited  a  placard  of  one  of  Cresson's  meetings,  headed, 
"American  Colonization  Society  and  the  Abolition  of 
Slavery."  Mr.  Garrison  then  described  with  what  feel- 

Lib.  3 : 126,    ings  he  heard  Sir  Robert  Peel  in  the  House  of  Commons 

167. 

1  One  of  the  editors  of  the  Eclectic  Review,  and  "  a  notable  literary  critic 
in  his  day." 


^ET.  28.]  FIKST   ENGLISH   MISSION.  355 

a  few  days  before1  oppose  the  Emancipation  Bill  by    CHAP.  xi. 
referring  to  the  operations  of  the  Society  as  proof  that        I8^3. 
emancipation  was  a  curse  to  the  blacks,  rendering  them 
a  nuisance  to  be  got  rid  of  by  deportation.   He  concluded 
by  saying  that  "  the  abolitionists  of  Great  Britain  should 
indignantly  order  him  [Cresson]  back  to  his  slaveholding 
employers,  and  bid  him  be  thankful  that  he  had  not  been 
detained  on  a  charge  of  obtaining  money  under  false 
pretences." 

Mr.  Thompson  next  testified  from  his  own  experience  Lib.  3 : 126. 
to  Cresson's  false  assurances  as  to  the  anti- slavery  objects 
of  the  Society.  "He  also  calumniated  Mr.  Garrison  to 
me,  and  gave  me  such  an  account  of  him  that  he  made 
me  regard  him  as  a  pest  of  society."2  And  whereas 
Cresson  never  came  near  the  abolition  meetings  in  the 
British  Islands,  the  platform  at  his  own  meeting  was 
crowded  with  slaveholders.  Mr.  Thompson  reiterated 
the  charge  of  deception  practised  on  the  British  sup 
porters  of  the  Society. 

At  this  point  Mr.  Cropper  announced  that  he  had  Lib.  3 : 127. 
hoped  for  a  debate  in  order  that  the  audience  might 
form  its  judgment  between  the  parties,  but  that  an 
opportunity  for  rejoinder  would  be  furnished  Mr.  Cres 
son  on  the  following  evening  after  Mr.  Garrison's 
lecture  had  been  finished.  Cresson  thereupon  declined 
to  demean  himself  by  entering  into  a  discussion  "  under 
existing  circumstances,  and  with  such  a  chairman,  such 
a  lecturer,  and  such  a  meeting";  but,  having  the 

1  June  3.     "  Look  at  the  consequences  of  emancipation  in  some  of  the 
Eastern  States  of  America,  where  slavery  had  been  abolished  for  some 
time.     In  these  the  price  of  labor  was  high  ;  the  emancipated  slaves  had 
every  encouragement  to  labor ;  no  prejudices  existed  against  them  as  in 
other  parts  of  the  United  States  ;  wages  were  kept  high  ;  yet  in  these  very 
States,  such  was  the  degradation  and  misery  to  which  the  emancipated 
slaves  were  introduced  that  philanthropy  had  no  other  remedy  for  the  evil 
but  sending  them  to  a  colony  on  the  coast  of  Africa"  (Hansard's  Parl. 
Debates,  18:339-357). 

2  In  a  debate  at  Scarborough,  Cresson  "denied  Mr.  Garrison's  competency 
as  a  witness,  referring  to  some  judicial  proceedings  against  him  "  in  Ame 
rica,  "  and  to  his  falsifications  of  the  African  Repository  "  (Repository,  July, 
1833;  Lib.  3:127). 


356  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAKKISON.  I>ET.  28. 

CHAP.  XL    floor,  enlarged  his  abuse  of  Mr.  Cropper,  by  whom,  he 
Is^3.        asserted,  he  had  been  treated  like  a  dog  —  and  so  left 
the  chapel. 

/,/£.  3:165.  From  the  second  meeting  he  carefully  absented  him 
self,  sending,  however,  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Price  a  note 
thanking  him  for  the  offer  of  his  chapel,  and  appointing 
a  night  j  but  when  his  messenger  was  asked  whether  a 
debate  or  a  lecture  was  contemplated,  he  replied  a  lec 
ture —  a  cool  proposal,  indeed,  which  met  with  a  very 
proper  refusal.  Mr.  Price's  views  with  regard  to  the 
Colonization  Society  had,  he  publicly  confessed,  under 
gone  a  total  change,  and  he  was  unwilling  to  open  the 
chapel  to  it  for  unchecked  propagandism.  He  moved 
resolutions  to  the  effect  that  Mr.  Garrison  had  fully 
established  the  truth  of  his  charges  against  it,  by  evi 
dence  drawn  from  itself,  and  that  all  friends  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty  should  refuse  it  their  sanction.  To 

Lib.  3 : 166.  these  there  was  but  one  dissenting  vote.  Resolutions  of 
thanks  to  Mr.  Garrison  for  his  luminous  and  fearless  ex 
posure,  and  of  unequivocal  confidence  and  zealous  sup 
port,  of  heartfelt  sympathy  for  the  colored  people  of  the 
United  States,  and  of  cordial  approbation  for  the  New- 
England  Anti-Slavery  Society,  were  passed  with  "equal 
unanimity,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Thompson.  But  the  crown 
ing  feature  of  the  evening  was  James  Cropper's  an 
nouncement:  "  It  is  with  very  great  pleasure  that  I  can 
add  the  name  of  William  Wilberforce  as  having  changed 
his  opinion.  He  now  deeply  regrets  that  he  was  ever 
led  to  say  anything  in  approbation  of  the  Colonization 
Society." 

An  opportunity  for  confirming  the  great  philanthropist 
in  his  altered  views  was  speedily  afforded  Mr.  Garrison. 
A  few  days  after  his  lecture,1  in  company  with  his  already 
close  friend,  George  Thompson,  he  took  the  night  stage 

Lectures  of   for  Bath,  where  the  latter  was  to  reply  to  the  West-India 

Geo.  Thomp- 

son,  p.  viii.    planters'  advocate,  Peter  Borthwick,  a  familiar  antago- 

1  Probably  Monday,  June  17,  but  possibly  "Wednesday,  Thursday,  or 
Friday  of  the  previous  week. 


MT.  28.J  FIEST   ENGLISH   MISSION.  357 

nist.     During  their  subsequent  stay  in  the  city  occurred     Lib.  6  •.  7. 
the  interview  with  Wilberforce  (at  his  residence)  the  bare 
prospect  of  which  might  well  have  decided  the  accept 
ance  of  the  English  mission. 

"  It  was  in  June,  1833,"  writes  Mr.  Garrison,  years  afterwards,  Lib.  6 : 7. 
with  incidental  comparisons  of  no  little  interest,  "  that  we1 
visited  Mr.  Wilberforce  at  his  residence  in  Bath,  accompanied 
by  Mr.  Thompson.  It  is  seldom  that  men  of  renown  meet  the 
liigh  expectations  of  the  curious  and  enthusiastic  as  to  their 
bodily  proportions ;  for  imagination  is  ever  busy,  in  advance, 
in  fashioning  each  distinguished  object  so  as  outwardly,  as  well 
as  inwardly,  '  to  give  the  world  the  assurance  of  a  man.'  Of 
all  the  truly  great  men  whom  we  have  seen,  we  think  the 
physical  conformation  of  Daniel  Webster  best  agrees  with  the 
fame  of  his  colossal  mind.  His  body  is  compact,  and  of 
Atlantean  massiveness,  without  being  gross :  his  head  is  of 
magnificent  proportions  —  the  perfection  of  vast  capaciousness: 
his  glance  is  a  mingling  of  the  sunshine  and  the  lightning  of 
heaven:  his  features  are  full  of  intellectual  greatness.  De 
Witt  Clinton  was  another  rare  specimen  of  the  noble  adapta 
tion  of  the  outward  to  the  inward  man.  Washington,  perhaps, 
was  a  third.  When  we  were  introduced  to  Mr.  Wilberforce, 
his  pygmean  dimensions  would  have  excited  feelings  almost 
bordering  on  the  ludicrous,  if  we  had  not  instantly  been  struck 
with  admiration  to  think  that  so  small  a  body  could  contain  so 
large  a  mind!  We  realized  the  truth  of  Watts's  spiritual 
phrenology,  if  we  may  so  term  it,  (and  Watts,  like  the  apostle 
Paul,  was  weak  and  contemptible  in  his  bodily  appearance,)  as 
set  forth  in  the  following  verse : 

'  Were  I  so  tall  to  reach  the  pole, 

Or  grasp  the  ocean  with  my  span, 
I  must  be  measured  by  my  soul: 
The  mind's  the  standard  of  the  man.' 

Wilberforce  was  as  frail  and  slender  in  his  figure  as  is  Dr. 
Channing,  and  lower  in  stature  than  even  Benjamin  Lundy, 
the  Clarkson  of  our  country.  His  head  hung  droopingly  upon 
his  breast,  so  as  to  require  an  effort  of  the  body  to  raise  it 
when  he  spoke,  and  his  back  had  an  appearance  of  crooked- 

1  The  editorial  "we." 


358  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKKISON.  [^T.  28. 

CHAP.  XL  ness :  hence,  in  walking,  he  looked  exceedingly  diminutive. 
In  his  ear]ier  years  he  was  probably  erect  and  agile ;  but  feeble 
health,  long  continued,  had  thus  marred  his  person  in  the  vale 
of  time. 

"  At  his  kind  invitation  we  took  breakfast  with  him  and  his 
interesting  family,  and  afterwards  spent  four  or  five  hours  in 
interchanging  sentiments  respecting  American  slavery  and  the 
American  Colonization  Society.  His  mind  seemed  to  be  wholly 
unaffected  by  his  bodily  depression :  it  was  a  transparent  firma 
ment,  studded  with  starry  thoughts,  in  beautiful  and  opulent 
profusion.  His  voice  had  a  silvery  cadence,  his  face  a  benevo 
lently  pleasing  smile,  and  his  eye  a  fine  intellectual  expression. 
In  his  conversation  he  was  fluent,  yet  modest ;  remarkably 
exact  and  elegant  in  his  diction ;  cautious  in  forming  conclu 
sions  ;  searching  in  his  interrogations ;  and  skilful  in  weighing 
testimony.  In  his  manners  he  combined  dignity  with  simpli 
city,  and  childlike  affability  with  becoming  gracefulness. 
How  perfectly  do  those  great  elements  of  character  harmonize 
in  the  same  person,  to  wit  —  dovelike  gentleness  and  amazing 
energy  —  deep  humility  and  adventurous  daring !  How  incom 
parably  bland,  yet  mighty — humble,  yet  bold,  was  the  won 
drous  Immanuel !  These  were  traits  that  also  eminently 
characterized  the  apostles  Paul  and  John.  These  were  mingled 
in  the  soul  of  Wilberforce. 

"  We  were  particularly  struck  with  the  strong  and  deferential 
affection  which  he  seemed  to  cherish  for  Mrs.  Wilberforce,  a 
woman  worthy  of  such  a  man,  of  singular  dignity  of  carriage, 
approaching  to  the  majestic  in  size,  and  all-absorbed  in  her 
kind  attentions  to  him  —  and  he  not  less  attentive  to  her.  She 
could  not  drop  her  thimble  or  her  cotton  on  the  carpet  but  he 
would  stoop  down  to  find  it,  in  spite  of  her  entreaties.  What 
greatness  of  amiability !  Another  thing  which  we  remarked 
with  surprise  and  delight  was,  the  youthful  freshness  and  almost 
romantic  admiration  which  he  cherished  for  natural  scenery. 
During  our  interview  with  him,  he  took  a  recumbent  position 
upon  the  sofa ;  but  as  we  were  about  bidding  him  farewell,  he 
called  for  his  shoes,  and,  infirm  as  he  was,  proposed  walking 
up  and  down  the  '  South  Parade '  with  us,  in  order  to  point  out 
some  of  the  beauties  of  the  landscape  in  view  of  his  residence  j 
but  we  begged  him  not  to  make  the  effort,  and  satisfied  him 
by  going  to  a  front  window,  from  which  he  showed  us  with 
considerable  pleasure  the  house  which  Pope  the  poet  occasion 
ally  occupied,  and  other  interesting  and  beautiful  objects. 


JST.28.]  FIRST   ENGLISH   MISSION.  359 

"  In  the  Keepsake1  he  is  represented  sitting  in  his  favorite    CHAP.  XI. 
position,  cross-legged,  his  head  pendent  and  lateral,  and  his        ^JJ3_ 
hands  retaining  the  eye-glass  with  which  he  was  accustomed 
to  read." 

There  were  in  reality  two  interviews,  which  are  thus 
described  in  Mr.  Garrison's  official  report  on  his  mission : 

"  On  the  19th  of  June,  it  was  my  privilege  to  be  introduced  ^d  Ann.  Re- 
to  the  venerable  Wilberforce  in  Bath.  He  gave  me  a  very  A.  S.'s., 
gracious  reception,  as  did  also  his  excellent  lady  and  son.  I  P-  44- 
spent  about  three  hours  in  his  company,  during  which  time  his 
cautious  and  active  mind  was  very  inquisitive  on  the  subject  of 
slavery  in  the  United  States,  and  particularly  in  reference  to 
the  American  Colonization  Society.  I  endeavored  to  commu 
nicate,  as  briefly  and  clearly  as  possible,  all  the  prominent 
facts  relating  to  our  great  controversy.  In  expressing  to  him 
the  grief  which  was  felt  by  American  abolitionists,  and  par 
ticularly  by  our  free  colored  population,  in  seeing  the  name  of 
Wilberforce  enrolled  among  the  friends  of  the  Colonization 
Society,  he  said  that  his  commendation  of  the  enterprise  had 
been  restricted  to  the  colony  at  Liberia  j  that,  relying  upon 
the  information  which  Mr.  Cresson  had  given  him  respecting 
the  flourishing  condition  of  that  colony,  he  had  been  induced 
to  believe  that  it  was  aiding  essentially  in  the  civilization  of 
benighted  Africa ;  that  he  never  regarded  the  Society  as  pro 
viding  a  remedy  for  slavery ;  that  he  viewed  with  abhorrence 
the  doctrine  of  the  Society  denying  the  practicability  of  ele 
vating  the  colored  race  in  the  United  States  to  an  equality  with 
the  whites ;  and  that  he  had  repeatedly  contested  that  wicked 
position  with  Mr.  Cresson,  and  told  him  that  he  considered  it 
fundamentally  false  and  unchristian.  He  expressed  much 
anxiety  to  learn  how  far  Mr.  Cresson  had  made  use  of  his 
name  to  give  currency  to  the  Society,  and  desired  his  son  to 
write  down  the  following  queries  as  he  dictated  them : 

"  i  1.  How  far  has  Mr.  Elliott  Cresson  made  use  of  Mr.  Wil- 
berforce's  name  ?  Has  he  merely  stated  that  Mr.  Wilberforce 
approved  of  the  colony  as  calculated  to  benefit  Africa  ;  or  has 

l  The  (British)  '  Christian  Keepsake '  for  1836,  the  occasion  of  the  remi 
niscences.  It  contained  also  the  portraits  of  the  China  missionary,  Robert 
Morrison,  T.  F.  Buxton,  and  Elizabeth  Fry.  Wilberforce's  portrait  Mr. 
Garrison  declared  "  worth  the  price  of  the  book:  every  other  that  we  have 
seen  is  a  failure."  And  again,  of  it  and  Buxton's  :  "  They  are  '  true  to  life' 
—  so  accurate  that  none  need  wish  better." 


360  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAREISON.  [JET.  28. 

CHAP.  XI.    he  said  that  Mr.  Wilberforce  approves  of  the  principle  of  the 
x^~          SOCIETY  —  namely,  that  the  blacks  ought  to  be  removed  for  the 
advantage  of  America,  as  well  as  for  their  own  ? 

"  '  2.  Did  Mr.  Cresson  (aware  that  it  must  be  considered  as  the 
fundamental  principle  of  the  American  Colonization  Society, 
that  there  is  a  difficulty,  amounting  to  a  moral  impossibility,  in 
the  blacks  and  whites  living  together  in  prosperity  and  harmony, 
as  members  of  the  same  free  community)  make  it  clear  to  those 
to  whom  he  professed  to  state  Mr.  Wilberforce's  sentiments, 
that  the  two  classes  MIGHT  AND  OUGHT  TO  LIVE  TOGETHER,  as 
one  mutually  connected  and  happy  society  ? 

"'3.  Has  Mr.  Elliott  Cresson  made  it  publicly  known  in 
England,  that  the  American  Colonization  Society  has  declared 
that  it  considers  that  colonization  ought  to  be  a  sine  qua  non  of 
emancipation  ? ' 

"  These  queries  were  given  to  me  to  make  such  use  of  them 
as  I  might  think  proper. 

"  At  his  urgent  solicitation,  I  visited  him  the  next  morning, 
and  sat  down  with  him  and  his  family  to  breakfast,  which  was 
served  up  in  patriarchal  simplicity.  After  an  interview  of 
about  five  hours, —  too  delightful  and  too  important  ever  to  be 
forgotten  by  me, —  I  bade  him  farewell,  expressing  my  fervent 
wishes  for  a  long  continuance  of  his  valuable  life,  and  my  hope 
to  meet  him  in  that  world  of  glory  where  change,  and  decay, 
and  separation  are  unknown.  I  impressed  upon  his  mind, 
tenderly  and  solemnly,  the  importance  of  his  bearing  public 
testimony  against  the  American  Colonization  Society,  if  he  was 
satisfied  that  its  claims  to  the  confidence  and  patronage  of  the 
British  nation  were  preposterous  and  illusory  j  especially  as 
he  was  constantly  quoted  as  the  friend  and  advocate  of  the 
Society.  '  I  offer  you,'  I  said,  i  no  documents  or  pamphlets  in 
opposition  to  the  Society,  upon  which  to  form  an  opinion  of  its 
true  character.  Here  are  its  Fifteenth  and  Sixteenth  Reports : 
the  former  contains  an  elaborate  defence  of  the  Society  by  its 
managers,  which,  in  my  opinion,  is  alone  sufficient  to  seal  its 
destiny.  Read  it  at  your  leisure,  and,  judging  the  Society  out 
of  its  own  mouth,  let  your  verdict  be  given  to  the  world ! " 

Lib.  3 : 162,  The  result  of  these  interviews  was  that  Mr.  Garrison 
brought  back  with  him  to  this  country  the  original  of  a 
Protest  against  British  support  of  the  American  Coloni^ 
zation  Society,  already  made  public  in  England,  and 


.ET.  28.]  FIRST   ENGLISH   MISSION.  361 

signed  by  Wilberforce,  William  Smith,  Zachary  Macau-  CHAP.  xi. 
lay,  William  Evans,  M.  P.,  Samuel  Gurney,  George  xs^. 
Stephen,  Suffield,  S.  Lushington,  M.  P.,  Buxton,  Crop 
per,  William  Allen,  and  Daniel  O'Connell,  M.  P.1  They 
expressly  rejected  the  claims  of  the  Society  to  anti- 
slavery  support  as  "  wholly  groundless,"  and  its  profes 
sion  of  promoting  the  abolition  of  slavery  as  "  altogether 
delusive."  The  influence  of  Liberia  on  the  slave  trade 
would  be  limited  to  its  petty  territory.  "  The  only 
effectual  deathblow  to  that  accursed  traffic  will  be  the 
destruction  of  slavery  throughout  the  world,"  to  which 
they  were  compelled  to  say  they  believed  the  Coloniza 
tion  Society  "  to  be  an  obstruction"  Englishmen  ought 
not  to  be  called  upon  "to  contribute  to  the  expenses 
of  a  colony  which,  though  no  doubt  comprising  some 
advantages,  was  formed  chiefly  to  indulge  the  preju 
dices  of  American  slaveholders,  and  which  is  regarded 
with  aversion  by  the  colored  population  of  the  United 
States." 

"  Our  objections  to  it  are,  therefore,  briefly  these  :  —  While  Lid.  3: 162. 
we  believe  its  pretexts  to  be  delusive,  we  are  convinced  that  its 
real  effects  are  of  the  most  dangerous  nature.  It  takes  its  root 
from  a  cruel  prejudice  and  alienation  in  the  whites  of  America 
against  the  colored  people,  slave  or  free.  This  being  its  source, 
the  effects  are  what  might  ba  expected :  that  it  fosters  and  in 
creases  the  spirit  of  caste,  already  so  unhappily  predominant ; 
that  it  widens  the  breach  between  the  two  races  —  exposes  the 
colored  people  to  great  practical  persecution,  in  order  to  force 
them  to  emigrate  j  and  finally,  is  calculated  to  swallow  up  and 
divert  that  feeling  which  America,  as  a  Christian  and  a  free 
country,  cannot  but  entertain,  that  slavery  is  alike  incompatible 
with  the  law  of  God  and  with  the  well-being  of  man,  whether 
the  enslaver  or  the  enslaved. 

"  On  these  grounds,  therefore,  and  while  we  acknowledge  the 
Colony  of  Liberia,  or  any  other  colony  on  the  coast  of  Africa, 
to  be  in  itself  a  good  thing,  we  must  be  understood  utterly  to 
repudiate  the  principles  of  the  American  Colonization  Society. 

i  The  fate  of  this  precious  document  is  unknown.  A  facsimile  of  the 
signatures  is  given  in  Mrs.  Child's  '  Oasis,'  p.  64. 


362 


WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON. 


.  28. 


CHAP.  XI. 

1833- 


2,d  Ann.  Re 
port  N.  E. 
A.  S.  S., 
p.  46. 


That  Society  is,  in  our  estimation,  not  deserving  of  the  coun 
tenance  of  the  British  public." 

One  name  was  conspicuous  by  its  absence  from  among 
the  signers  to  this  tremendous  Protest  —  that  of  Clark- 
son.  To  him,  too,  Mr.  Garrison  had  paid  a  memorable 
visit : 

"  Immediately  after  the  meeting  at  Exeter  Hall,1  I  rode  to 
Ipswich  to  see  Thomas  Clarkson,  accompanied  by  my  esteemed 
friend,  the  Rev.  Nathaniel  Paul.  Here  it  is  proper  to  state  in 
what  manner  the  mind  of  this  venerable  philanthropist  became 
so  strongly  impressed  in  favor  of  the  Colonization  Society  and 
of  Liberia.  It  happens  that  the  individual  who,  of  all  others  in 
England,  exerts  the  most  influence  over  Clarkson's  mind,  is  the 
main  pillar  of  Mr.  Cresson's  support  —  namely,  Richard  Dykes 
Alexander,  a  wealthy  and  respectable  member  of  the  Society  of 
Friends.  As  Clarkson  has  entirely  lost  his  sight,  this  gentle 
man  reads  and  answers  many  of  his  letters,  and  is  emphatically 
his  mouthpiece.  He  has  therefore  acquired  a  powerful  control 
over  the  judgment,  and  secured  the  entire  confidence  of  Clark  - 
son.  Mr.  Cresson  succeeded  most  effectually  in  duping  Alex 
ander,  and  Alexander  in  misleading  Clarkson.  Care  was  taken, 
both  by  Mr.  Alexander  and  Mrs.  Clarkson,  to  read  chiefly  to 
the  sightless  philanthropist  those  statements  which  served  to 
represent  the  Colonization  Society  and  Liberia  in  glowing 
colors,  and  to  place  their  opposers  in  a  disgraceful  attitude. 
Under  these  circumstances,  little  authority  or  value  ought  to  be 
attached  to  his  opinions  in  favor  of  the  Society  and  its  colony. 

"  On  arriving  at  Ipswich,  we  found  that  we  could  easily  gain 
access  to  Clarkson  only  through  the  medium  of  Alexander  — 
of  him  whose  mind  we  knew  was  strongly  prejudiced  against 
us  both,  in  consequence  of  the  flagrant  misrepresentations  of 
Mr.  Cresson.  But  we  did  not  hesitate  to  call  upon  him,  and 
state  the  object  of  our  visit  to  Ipswich.  He  treated  us  politely ; 
and  as  Clarkson  resided  at  Playford  Hall,  a  distance  of  two  or 
three  miles  from  the  town,  he  offered  to  postpone  another 
engagement  which  he  had  made,  and  accompany  us  hi  his 
carriage. 

"  The  retreat  chosen  by  the  aged  friend  of  the  colored  race 
in  which  to  spend  his  few  remaining  years  on  earth,2  we  found 

1  July  13,  1833. 

2  Clarkson  was  at  that  time  seventy-three  years  of  age.     He  still  had  a 
long  lease  of  life  before  him,  surviving  till  1846. 


^T.  28.]  FIRST   ENGLISH   MISSION.  363 

to  be  very  beautiful.     On  alighting  at  his  door,  Mr.  Paul  and    CHAP.  XI. 
myself,  at  the  request  of  Mr.  Alexander,  strolled  about  the  ser-         jZ" 
pentine  paths  of  the  Park,  while  he  went  in  to  ascertain  whether 
Clarkson's  health  would  permit  an  interview  at  that  time  —  as, 
a  few  days  before,  he  had  injured  one  of  his  legs  severely 
against  the  shaft  of  his  carriage.     In  about  twenty  minutes  we 
were  called  into  the  house,  and  were  met  by  Clarkson  totter- 
ingly  supported  by  Mr.  Alexander.     His  mind  was  evidently 
full  of  distress:  my  own  was  deeply  affected,  almost  beyond 
the  utterance  of  words.     In  taking  me  by  the  hand,  he  observed 

—  *I  cannot  see  your  face  —  I  have  now  wholly  lost  my  sight 

—  but '  and  here  his  emotion  overpowered  his  feelings  — 

;  I  believe  I  have  lost  it  in  a  good  cause.'     My  introductory 
remarks  were  few  and  simple.     A  burden  of  gratitude  for  his 
noble  services  in  the  cause  of  bleeding  humanity,  and  of  sym 
pathy  for  his  present  affecting  condition,  pressed  mightily  upon 
my  soul,  which  I  earnestly  desired  to  throw  off  by  the  power  of 
speech ;  but,  lest  it  might  seem  like  premeditated  flattery  and 
artful  condolence,  I  was  awed  into  silence. 

"He  immediately  began  on  the  subject  of  colonization ;  and, 
with  a  vividness  of  memory  which  surprised  me,  minutely  stated 
the  substance  of  all  his  conversations  with  Mr.  Cresson  from 
their  first  interview,  and  the  circumstances  which  had  led  him 
to  give  his  sanction  to  the  Colonization  Society.  He  had  never 
regarded  that  Society  as  capable,  in  itself,  of  effecting  the 
abolition  of  slavery  in  the  United  States,  but  only  as  an  auxili 
ary  to  its  abolition.  Did  he  suppose  that  compulsion,  either 
directly  or  indirectly,  was  used  to  effect  the  removal  of  the  free 
people  of  color  and  such  as  were  liberated  from  bondage,  he 
should  deprecate  the  measure  as  unspeakably  cruel  and  wicked. 
Finding  that  his  approval  of  the  Society  was  regarded  with 
grief  by  many  of  his  dearest  friends,  in  whose  opinions  he 
could  not  unite  as  to  its  evil  character,1  —  and  in  order  to  obtain 
that  repose  of  mind  which  his  bodily  infirmities  imperiously 
demanded, — he  had  resolved  to  occupy  neutral  ground,  and 
did  not  wish  to  be  ranked  on  either  side  of  the  controversy. 
He  saw  no  reason  to  change  his  decision. 

1  See  the  letters  of  James  Cropper  and  Arnold  Buffum  to  Clarkson, 
Abolitionist,  pp.  8,  39.  Clarkson  wrote  to  John  Fenwick,  of  Newcastle-on- 
Tyne,  Dec.  22,  1832  (MS.) :  "E.  Cresson  is  a  man  of  estimable  character  in 
Philadelphia ;  the  bosom  friend  of  Robert  Vaux.  There  is  nothing  against 
the  Association  but  rumor.  It  will  probably  be  balanced  by  the  formation 
of  anti-slavery  societies  in  the  United  States." 


364  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAEKISON.  [^T.  28. 

Lib.  3: 189.  ["  He  said  to  me,  with  great  emphasis, — '  Tell  the  people  of 
the  United  States,  Mr.  Garrison,  that  Thomas  Clarkson  is  now 
resolved  not  to  give  any  countenance  to  the  American  Coloni 
zation  Society.  Tell  them  that  he  refused  to  comply  with  the 
solicitation  of  Mr.  Cresson  to  become  an  honorary  member  of 
it ;  and  also  refused  to  give  his  sanction  to  the  British  Coloni 
zation  Society.  I  occupy  neutral  ground.  My  letter  to  Mr. 
Cresson  in  favor  of  the  American  Colonization  Society  was 
extorted  by  his  statement  [what  a  statement !]  that  one  hundred 
thousand  slaves  had  been  offered  to  the  Society  gratuitously,  to 
be  sent  to  Liberia.  This  unparalleled  liberality  seemed  to  me 
to  be  indeed  the  work  of  G-od.' "] 

2d  Ann.  Re-  "  Having  listened  to  him  with  becoming  deference,  I  spared 
A.  S.  S.,  no  pains  to  correct  the  erroneous  views  which  he  had  formed  — 
P-  47-  beginning  with  the  origin  of  the  Society,  and  tracing  it  through 
all  its  ramifications ;  explaining  its  direful  tendencies  to  corrupt 
the  public  mind,  obscure  the  moral  vision  of  the  people,  inflame 
their  prejudices,  deceive  their  hopes,  and  sear  their  consciences 
—  and  to  perpetuate,  by  pruning,  an  overgrown  system  of  op 
pression.  I  showed  him  that  it  was  cruel  mockery  to  say  that 
the  persecuted  and  oppressed  exiles  to  Liberia  had  gone  with 
their  own  consent,  cheerfully  and  voluntarily ;  that  the  doctrines 
of  the  Society  were  abhorrent  and  impious;  that  it  was  the 
enemy  not  merely  of  the  colored  race,  but  of  all  genuine 
abolitionists  j  that  good  men  who  had  taken  it  upon  trust,  on 
ascertaining  its  real  purposes,  were  abandoning  it  in  crowds, 
and  using  mighty  exertions  to  overthrow  it ;  and  that  all  its 
doctrines,  measures  and  designs  were  evil,  and  only  evil  con 
tinually.  I  also  endeavored  to  convince  him  that  he  did  not 
occupy  neutral  ground,  but  that  he  was  everywhere,  both  in 
England  and  in  the  United  States,  regarded  as  the  unfalter 
ing  friend  of  the  Society j  and  that  until  he  publicly  requested 
to  be  considered  as  neither  approving  nor  opposing  the  Society, 
he  could  not  possibly  be  neutral  in  this  great  controversy. 

"  The  Rev.  Mr.  Paul  also  appealed  to  him  in  the  most  solemn 
and  pathetic  manner,  and  stated  in  what  light  the  Society  was 
universally  regarded  by  his  colored  brethren,  and  in  what 
manner  it  was  operating  to  their  injury.  His  disclosures 
seemed  powerfully  to  agonize  the  mind  of  the  venerable  man, 
and  sincerely  did  we  pity  him. 

"  After  an  interview  of  about  four  hours,  we  took  our  leave 
of  him,  lamenting  that  he  should  still  feel  it  to  be  his  duty  to 
occupy  what  he  considered  neutral  ground. 


.  28.] 


FIKST   ENGLISH   MISSION. 


365 


^d  Ann  Re- 

port  N.  E, 

A.  s.  s., 
^'  ' 


"  A  short  time  after  this  visit,  I  unexpectedly  received,  to  my  CHAP.  XI. 
exceeding  joy,  from  a  distinguished  member  of  Parliament, 
duplicate  copies  of  the  Protest  against  the  American  Coloniza 
tion  Society,  signed  by  Wilberforce  and  eleven  of  the  most 
distinguished  abolitionists  in  Great  Britain,  which  has  fallen 
like  a  thunderbolt  upon  the  Society,  and  riven  it  in  twain.  In 
getting  up  this  Protest  I  had  no  agency  whatever.  It  was 
altogether  unexpected  by  me  j  but  to  obtain  it  was  alone  worth 
a  trip  across  the  Atlantic."  l 

Mr.  Garrison  was  recalled  from  Bath,  directly  after  his 
last  interview  with  Wilberforce,  by  a  note  from  Captain 
Stuart  informing  him  that  Cresson  had  called  a  public 
meeting  at  Freemason  Tavern,  at  which  the  Duke  of 
Sussex  was  to  preside,  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a 
British  Colonization  Society  in  open  or  secret  affiliation 
with  the  American.  "  Punctual  to  the  hour,"  says  his  Re- 
port,  "I  went  to  the  meeting,2  accompanied  by  my  friends 
Capt.  Stuart,  Joseph  Phillips,  William  Hume,  Esq.,  of 
Dublin,  and  other  gentlemen,  expecting  to  find  a  large 
audience.  Mr.  Cresson  and  six  or  eight  of  his  friends 
constituted  the  whole  company  in  attendance,  excepting 
those  who  went  with  me  !  The  Duke  of  Sussex  was 
absent,  and  Mr.  Cresson  therefore  moved  that  the  meet 
ing  be  adjourned  !  "  Another  -meeting  was  shortly 
appointed  for  July  3  at  the  Hanover-Square  Rooms, 
under  the  same  auspices,  whereupon  Mr.  Garrison 
addressed  a  letter  to  "  His  Grace  the  Duke  of  Sussex," 
desiring  a  private  interview  as  the  accredited  agent  of 
the  New-England  Anti-Slavery  Society,  ready  to  prove 
Mr.  Elliott  Cresson  a  deceiver,  and  the  Colonization 
Society  "  corrupt  in  its  principles,  prescriptive  in  its 
measures,  and  the  worst  enemy  of  the  free  colored  and 

1  The  Protest  bore  the  general  date  of  July,  1833.     "Mr.  Wilberforce 
signed  it  about  a  week  or  ten  days  before  his  death  [July  29].     His  auto 
graph  is  remarkably  firm  and  plain.     His  testimony  is  almost  like  a  voice 
from  the  grave,  and,  in  giving  it,  he  has  made  the  last  act  of  his  life  as 
useful  and  important  in  the  destruction  of  prejudice  and  slavery  as  any 
other  single  act  in  his  noble  career  of  philanthropy  "  (  W.  L.  G.  to  the  editor 
of  the  London  Patriot,  Lib.  3:  201). 

2  Probably  on  June  20. 


366  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKKISON.  [JET.  28. 

CHAP.  xi.    slave  population  of  the  United  States."    He  hoped  that 
I8^3.       in  consequence  the  Duke  would  refuse  to  give  his  coun 
tenance  to  the  proposed  meeting.     In  spite  of  his  refer 
ences  for  his  official  character  to  Buxton,  Macaulay  and 
Cropper,  no  answer  was  returned  to  this  letter. 

In  the  meantime,  July  1,  Mr.  Garrison  wrote  home  to 
the  Board  of  Managers  : 

Lib.  3 : 143  "  I  think  the  results  of  my  mission,  (brief  as  it  will  prove,) 
may  be  summed  up  in  the  following  items :  —  1st,  Awakening 
a  general  interest  among  the  friends  of  emancipation  in  this 
country,  and  securing  their  efficient  cooperation  with  us,  in  the 
abolition  of  slavery  in  the  United  States.  2d,  Dispelling  the 
mists  with  which  the  Agent  of  the  American  Colonization 
Society  has  blinded  the  eyes  of  benevolent  men  in  relation  to 
the  design  and  tendency  of  that  Society.  3d,  Enlisting  able 
and  eloquent  advocates  to  plead  our  cause.  4th,  Inducing 
editors  of  periodicals  and  able  writers  to  give  us  the  weight  of 
their  influence.  5th,  Exciting  a  spirit  of  emulation,  in  the 
redemption  of  our  slave  population,  among  the  numerous 
female  anti-slavery  societies.  6th,  Procuring  a  large  collection 
of  anti-slavery  documents,  tracts,  pamphlets  and  volumes, 
which  will  furnish  us  with  an  inexhaustible  supply  of  ammu 
nition. 

"  There  is  now  great  certainty  that  Parliament  will  complete 
the  scheme  of  emancipation  this  session,  as  the  House  of  Lords 
has  adopted,  without  any  amendment,  the  resolutions  of  the 
House  of  Commons.  To-night,  the  Bill,  containing  the  details 
of  the  measure,  will  be  read  a  first  time  in  the  latter  House.  It 
is  now  highly  probable  that  the  term  of  apprenticeship  will  be 
reduced  from  twelve  years  to  one  or  two,  and  perhaps  swept 
entirely  away.  Remonstrances  are  pouring  into  Parliament, 
from  various  parts  of  the  kingdom,  against  the  grant  of 
£20,000,000  to  the  planters,  but  I  fear  they  will  prove  in 
effectual. 

"  Mr.  Elliott  Cresson  continues  to  skulk  from  a  public  con 
troversy.  In  the  leading  city  paper,  the  Times,  of  the  28th 
ultimo,  I  inserted  a  challenge  to  him,  in  which  I  stated  ten 
Propositions,  which  I  offered  to  maintain  against  the  American 
Colonization  Society.  I  also  promised  that  if  he  would  prove, 
to  the  satisfaction  of  a  majority  of  the  audience,  the  following 
charge  against  me  in  a  letter  which  he  published  in  the  Baptist 


^T.  28.]  FIRST   ENGLISH   MISSION.  367 

Magazine  for  June  —  namely, '  a  violent  pamphleteer,  who  often  CHAP.  XI. 
sacrifices  truth  to  the  support  of  his  mistaken  views,  and  whose  xjj~ 
very  quotations  are  so  garbled  as  entirely  to  pervert  the  real  meaning 
of  the  speaker,'  I  would  pay  twenty  guineas  into  the  hands  of  the 
Mayor  of  New  York,  in  aid  of  the  education  of  the  colored 
children  of  that  city.  The  insertion  of  this  article  in  the  Times, 
although  making  less  than  three  squares,1  cost  me  £6  6s.,  that 
is,  about  thirty  dollars  !  !  This  is  the  usual  advertising  rate  in 
that  paper.  Cresson's  effrontery  is  truly  surprising  ;  for,  not 
withstanding  these  repeated  challenges,  he  has  advertised  a 
meeting  of  his  own,  to  be  held  on  Wednesday  next,  at  the 
Hanover  Booms,  at  which  the  Duke  of  Sussex  is  expected  to 
preside !  I  have  no  hesitation  in  prophesying  that  it  will  be 
a  complete  failure.  Of  course,  I  shall  endeavor  to  be  present, 
as  I  anticipate  some  amusing  collisions  on  the  occasion,  if  not 
between  me  and  the  speaker,  at  least  between  him  and  some 
sturdy  abolitionists.  As  an  offset  to  this  meeting,  I  propose  to 
hold  one  next  week,  which  many  of  the  noblest  friends  of 
liberty  in  England  will  probably  attend.  The  arrangements, 
however,  have  not  yet  been  made ;  and  perhaps  another,  and 
even  more  effectual,  course  may  be  adopted."2 

The  Hanover-Square  meeting  proved,  indeed,  a  com-  zdAnn.Re- 
plete  failure.     The  attendance  did  not  exceed  120  per-    ^ s.'&,' 
sons,    "  one-third   of   whom   were   on   the   platform   by       *• 43< 
special  invitation,  and  another  third  were  abolitionists, 
opposed  to  the  object  of  the  meeting."     Sussex  was  in 
the  chair.     Cresson  made  the  leading  speech,  declaring 
that  the  proposed  society  u  had  no  connection  whatever 
with  the  American  Colonization  Society ,"  as  did  every 
other  speaker  on  his  side,  including  Lord  Bexley  and  the 

iln  printers'  parlance,  a  "square"  of  reading  matter  equals  in  length 
the  width  of  the  column  ;  in  advertisements,  the  square  equals  one  inch. 

2  "  Garrison  is  here,"  writes  Charles  Stuart  from  London,  on  June  29, 
1833,  to  Arnold  Buff um,  ' '  zealous,  uncompromising,  untiring.  You  must 
not  be  surprised  should  his  correspondence  be  interrupted.  He  is  laboring 
like  himself — the  people,  as  they  become  acquainted  with  him,  love  and 
admire  him.  Cresson  skulks  from  all  collision  with  him,  in  a  manner  at 
once  insolent  and  dastardly.  Garrison's  party  in  London  consists  of  the 
great  body  of  the  practically  religious  people,  of  every  order,  as  far  as  they 
are  informed,  especially  the  Friends,  and  of  all  the  staunch  anti-slavery 
spirits ;  Cresson's,  of  a  few  titled,  wealthy,  high-pretending  individuals " 
(Lib.  3:139). 


368  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAKKISON.  [^T.  28. 


1.  noble  Duke  himself,  who,  according  to  Cresson,  pre 
sided  with  dignity,  but  "  found  it  hard  work  to  stem  the 
torrent"  of  opposition,  represented  by  Macaulay,  Stuart, 
and  George  Thompson,  as  well  as  by  Mr.  Garrison.  The 
last  endeavored  to  show  the  folly  of  suppressing  the 
slave  trade  by  coast  colonies  while  the  market  for  slaves 
still  existed  in  any  part  of  the  world.  "  The  tone  of  the 
discussion  was  vehement  and  even  boisterous,  but  only  a 
partial  hearing  was  given  to  the  abolitionists."  Never 
theless,  on  a  motion  to  form  a  British  African  Coloniza 
tion  Society,  Mr.  Thompson's  amendment  that  there  was 
no  necessity  for  one  was  lost  only  by  26  to  33.  Ridicu 
lous  as  this  was,  the  projected  counter  demonstration  at 
Exeter  Hall  was  not  abandoned  ;  and  as  the  Duke  of 
Sussex  had  declared  Cresson's  character  to  be  above 
attack,  Mr.  Garrison  sought  once  more  to  gain  his  ear 
by  inviting  his  attendance.  A  formal  propitiation  was 
even  necessary  : 

e-       "  In  my  note  of  the  29th  ultimo,  I  addressed  your  Royal 
P°A.s.'ll     Highness  by  the  title  of  l  Your  Grace.'    As  the  error,  though 
/•  44-        trivial  in  itself,  might  seem  to  imply  intentional  disrespect,  I 
must  here  apologize  for  the  same.    An  American  citizen,  in 
Europe,  is  ever  liable  to  err,  through  ignorance,  in  the  applica 
tion  of  hereditary  titles,  as  they  do  not  obtain  in  his  own 
country.     I  am  confident  that  your  Royal  Highness  will  most 
cheerfully  pardon  the  blunder." 

To  this  letter,  also,  no  answer  was  returned  ;  "  and 
therefore,"  says  the  writer,  "  I  am  under  no  special 
obligations  to  the  courtesy  of  royalty." 

ibid.  "  Never  was  a  more  highly  respectable  assembly  con 

vened  in  London"  than  that  which  filled  Exeter  Hall, 
Strand,  on  the  morning  of  Saturday,  July  13,  1833.  James 
Cropper  presided,  and  in  his  opening  remarks  stated 
the  object  of  the  meeting  to  be  an  exposure  of  the 
American  Colonization  Society's  anti-slavery  pretences, 
and  a  demonstration  of  the  real  British  feeling  in 
regard  to  it.  He  read  the  following  letter  of  regret 
from  Mr.  Buxton  : 


Mf.  28.]  FIKST   ENGLISH   MISSION.  369 

Thomas  Fowell  Buxton  to  W.  L.  Garrison. 

54,  DEVONSHIRE  STREET,  July  12,  1833.        Lib.  3:178. 

MY  DEAR  SIR  :  I  must  trouble  you  with  a  line  to  excuse  my 
non-appearance  at  the  meeting  to-morrow.  The  fact  is,  critical 
as  has  been  the  state  of  our  great  question  often  bef ore,  per 
haps  never  was  it  so  critical  as  now.  My  mind  is  intensely 
occupied,  and  every  moment  of  my  time  so  full,  that  I  should 
be  sacrificing  my  duty  to  this  paramount  object  if  I  allowed 
anything  else,  however  pressing  and  interesting,  to  divert  me 
from  it  at  this,  the  crisis  of  its  fate.  But  you  know  my  com 
plete  unity  in  the  objects  of  your  meeting,  to  which  I  most 
cordially  wish  all  success.  My  views  of  the  Colonization  So 
ciety  you  are  aware  of.  They  do  not  fall  far  short  of  those 
expressed  by  my  friend  Mr.  Cropper,  when  he  termed  its 
objects  diabolical.  Nor  will  you  doubt  my  concurrence  in  the 
efforts  of  the  New-England  Anti-Slavery  Society,  or  any  Anti- 
Slavery  Society  in  the  world. 

Wishing  you,  therefore,  all  success,  and  entreating  you  to 
tell  your  countrymen,  on  your  return,  that  we  in  England  are 
all  for  the  Anti-  Slavery,  not  for  the  Colonization  people,  I  am, 
my  dear  sir,  with  real  esteem, 

Yours  respectfully,        T.  F.  BUXTON. 

Mr.  Garrison  was  then  introduced  by  George  Thomp 
son,  and  began  a  long  address  in  the  following  terms : 1 

"  MR.  CHAIRMAN — It  is  long  since  I  sacrificed  all  my  national,  Lib.  3 : 178. 
complexional  and  local  prejudices  upon  the  altai*of  Christian 
love,  and,  breaking  down  the  narrow  boundaries  of  a  selfish 
patriotism,  inscribed  upon  my  banner  this  motto  :  My  country 
is  the  world ;  my  countrymen  are  all  mankind.  It  is  true,  in  a 
geographical  sense,  I  am  now  in  a  foreign  territory ;  but  still  it 
is  a  part  of  my  country.  I  am  in  the  midst  of  strangers ;  but 
still  surrounded  by  my  countrymen.  There  must  be  limits  to 
civil  governments  and  national  domains.  There  must  be  names 
to  distinguish  the  natural  divisions  of  the  earth,  and  the  dwel 
lers  thereon.  There  must  be  varieties  in  the  form,  color, 

1  "  I  have,  my  dear  Garrison,"  writes  J.  G.  Whittier  from  Haverhill, 
Nov.  10,  1833  (MS.),  "just  finished  reading  thy  speech  at  the  Exeter  HaU 
meeting.  It  is  full  of  high  and  manly  truth  —  terrible  in  its  rebuke,  but 
full  of  justice.  The  opening,  as  a  specimen  of  beautiful  composition,  I 
have  rarely  seen  excelled." 

VOL.  L—  24 


370  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAEKISON.  C^T.  28. 

CHAP.  XI.  stature,  and  condition  of  mankind.  All  these  may  exist,  not 
j^7  only  without  injury,  but  with  the  highest  possible  advantage. 
But  wherever  they  are  made  the  boundaries  of  human  disinter 
estedness,  friendship,  sympathy,  honor,  patriotism  and  love, 
they  are  as  execrable  and  destructive  as,  otherwise,  they  are 
beautiful  and  preservative. 

"  Nowhere,  I  am  certain,  will  a  more  united  response  be  given 
to  these  sentiments  than  in  this  Hall,  and  by  those  who  are 
assembled  on  the  present  occasion.  What  exclamation  have 
you  put  into  the  mouth  of  the  African  captive,  kneeling  in  his 
chains  with  his  face  turned  imploringly  heavenward?  It  is 
this  —  the  most  touching,  the  most  irresistible :  '  AM  I  NOT  A 
MAN  AND  A  BROTHER  ? '  Yes !  though  black  as  murky  night  — 
though  born  on  a  distant  shore  —  though  degraded,  miserable, 
and  enslaved  —  though  ranked  among  the  beasts  of  the  field  — 
still,  '  A  MAN  AND  A  BROTHER  ! '  Noblest  device  of  humanity ! 
—  Wherever,  in  all  time,  a  human  being  pines  in  personal  thral 
dom,  the  tones  of  that  talismanic  appeal  uttered  by  him  shall 
be  swiftly  borne  by  the  winds  of  heaven  over  the  whole  earth, 
and  stir  up  the  humane,  the  brave,  the  honorable,  the  good,  for 
his  rescue ;  for  the  strife  of  freedom  is  no  longer  local,  but 
blows  are  now  struck  for  the  redemption  of  the  world.  And 
glorious  is  the  prospect  before  us.  Wherever  we  turn  our  eyes, 
we  see  the  earth  quaking,  and  hear  thunders  uttering  their 
voices.  The  GENIUS  OF  EMANCIPATION  is  visible  in  every 
clime,  and  at  its  trumpet-call  the  dead  slaves  of  all  nations 
are  starting  into  life,  shaking  off  the  dust  of  the  tomb,  and 
presenting  an  immortal  beauty  through  the  power  of  a  mighty 
resurrection.* 

tl  Sir,  I  have  crossed  the  Atlantic  on  an  errand  of  mercy,  to 
plead  for  perishing  millions,  and  to  discharge,  in  behalf  of  the 
abolitionists  of  the  United  States,  a  high  moral  obligation  which 
is  due  to  the  British  public.  It  would  neither  be  modest  nor 
proper  for  me,  on  this  occasion,  to  make  a  parade  of  the  sacri 
fices  of  time,  of  money,  of  health,  or  of  labor,  I  have  made, 
nor  of  the  perils  I  have  risked,  or  the  persecution  encountered, 
or  the  sufferings  endured,  since  I  first  stood  forth  as  the  advo 
cate  of  my  enslaved  countrymen,  —  not  to  banish  them  from 
their  native  land,  nor  to  contend  for  their  emancipation  by  a 
slow,  imperceptible  process,  *  half-way  between  now  and  never, "*— 
but  to  demand  their  instant  emancipation,  and  their  recognition 
as  brethren  and  countrymen.  I  shall  make  no  such  lachrymal 
display  of  my  losses  and  crosses  in  this  holy  cause ;  although, 


^T.  28.]  FIRST   ENGLISH   MISSION.  371 

perhaps,  I  could  give  as  long  a  list,  and  summon  as  many  wit-  CHAP.  XI. 
nesses,  and  present  as  strong  claims  upon  your  sympathy  and  T^ 
regard,  as  the  agent  of  the  American  negro  shippers  in  this 
country ;  for  I  know  that  in  all  things  I  come  short,  and  I  pour 
contempt  upon  all  that  I  have  endured  for  righteousness'  sake. 
Whatever  may  have  been  the  trials  and  dangers  experienced 
by  that  agent,  they  are  such  only  as  attend  a  popular  cause. 
His  friends  and  supporters  in  the  United  States  are  as  numer 
ous  as  the  oppressors  and  despisers  of  the  colored  population  — 
constituting  the  great,  the  wealthy,  the  powerful,  as  well  as  the 
inferior  classes.  When  he  shall  have  stood  forth,  almost  single- 
handed,  for  a  series  of  years,  against  and  in  the  midst  of  a 
nation  of  oppressors,  and  been  branded  with  every  epithet  that 
malice  could  invent  or  ingenuity  apply,  and  incarcerated  in  the 
cell  of  a  prison,  and  had  large  rewards  offered  for  his  destruc 
tion  by  private  combinations  and  legislative  bodies,  for  his 
advocacy  of  the  cause  of  negro  emancipation ;  he  may  then,  I  - 
think  you  will  all  agree,  with  far  greater  propriety  urge  his 
claims  upon  your  sympathy,  than  while  he  is  receiving  the 
puff s  and  compliments  of  a  great  and  popular  party  in  his  own 
country. 

"  I  cherish  not  the  least  personal  animosity  towards  that  gen 
tleman.  I  am  sure  that  I  can  heartily  forgive  him  as  often  as 
he  wrongs  me.  Sorry  am  I  for  his  own  sake  —  sorry  for  the 
sake  of  the  cause  of  truth  —  that  the  health  of  Mr.  Cresson, 
according  to  his  own  statement,  disqualifies  him  from  meeting 
me  in  a  public  discussion  of  the  principles  and  operations  of  his 
darling  scheme,  although  it  enables  him  to  hold  ex-parte  meet 
ings  in  favor  of  that  scheme,  ad  libitum;  nay,  more  —  he  can 
even  take  the  lead  publicly  in  the  formation  of  a  British  Colo 
nization  Society,  and  make  a  long  speech,  (although  it  is 
declared  that  it  has  no  connection  with  the  American  Coloniza 
tion  Society,)  at  the  very  moment  he  assigns  his  utter  physical 
inability  as  a  reason  why  he  cannot  hold  a  discussion  with  me, 
or  with  my  gifted  and  eloquent  friend,  George  Thompson,  Esq. 
He  has  my  best  wishes  for  the  complete  restoration  of  his 
health."  * 

Recurring  to  Cresson's  complaint  of  persecution  at  the 
hands  of  Cropper,  Macaulay,  and  Buxton,  Mr.  Garrison 
paid  a  passing  tribute  to  each  of  these  tormentors,  and 
announced  that  Wilberforce  must  soon  be  added  to  the 
list  in  view  of  their  recent  conversation  at  Bath,  and  the 


372  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON.  [^T.  28. 


CHAP.  XL    questions  to  Cresson  which  Wilberforce  had  dictated  and 

1833.        which  the  speaker  now  read.     Nor,  in  spite  of  his  blind 

ness,  which  compelled  him  to  take  things  on  trust,  was 

it  unlikely  that  Thomas  Clarkson  would  soon  be  found 

among  the  enemies  of  the  Colonization  agent. 

Mr.  Garrison's  proper  theme,  however,  was  "  a  delinea 
tion  of  American  slavery  and  the  American  Colonization 
Society,"  and  to  this  the  remainder  of  his  speech  was 
devoted.  It  is  only  needful  here  to  record  some  of  its 
incidental  features,  beginning  with  this  arraignment  of 
his  guilty  country  : 

Lib.  3:178.  "  I  cherish  as  strong  a  love  for  the  land  of  my  nativity  as 
any  man  living.  I  am  proud  of  her  civil,  political  and  religious 
institutions  —  of  her  high  advancement  in  science,  literature 
and  the  arts  —  of  her  general  prosperity  and  grandeur.  But  I 
have  some  solemn  accusations  to  bring  against  her. 

"I  accuse  her  of  insulting  the  majesty  of  Heaven  with  the 
grossest  mockery  that  was  ever  exhibited  to  man  —  inasmuch 
as,  professing  to  be  the  land  of  the  free  and  the  asylum  of  the 
oppressed,  she  falsifies  every  profession,  and  shamelessly  plays 
the  tyrant. 

"  I  accuse  her,  before  all  nations,  of  giving  an  open,  deliber 
ate  and  base  denial  to  her  boasted  Declaration,  that  '  all  men 
are  created  equal  ;  that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator 
with  certain  inalienable  rights  ;  that  among  these  are  life, 
liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.' 

"  I  accuse  her  of  disfranchising  and  proscribing  nearly  half  a 
million,  free  people  of  color,  acknowledging  them  not  as  coun 
trymen,  and  scarcely  as  rational  beings,  and  seeking  to  drag 
them  thousands  of  miles  across  the  ocean  on  a  plea  of  benevo 
lence,  when  they  ought  to  enjoy  all  the  rights,  privileges  and 
immunities  of  American  citizens. 

"  I  accuse  her  of  suffering  a  large  portion  of  her  population 
to  be  lacerated,  starved  and  plundered,  without  law  and  without 
justification,  at  the  will  of  petty  tyrants.  v 

lt  I  accuse  her  of  trafficking  in  the  bodies  and  souls  of  men, 
in  a  domestic  way,  to  an  extent  nearly  equal  to  the  foreign 
slave  trade  ;  which  traffic  is  equally  atrocious  with  the  foreign, 
and  almost  as  cruel  in  its  operations. 

"  I  accuse  her  of  legalizing,  on  an  enormous  scale,  licentious 
ness,  fraud,  cruelty  and  murder. 


^ET.  28.]  EIRST   ENGLISH    MISSION.  373 

"  I  accuse  her  of  the  horrid  crime  of  kidnapping  one  hundred    CHAP.  XI. 
thousand  infants  annually,  the  offspring  of  slave  parents.  l8~T 

"  I  accuse  her  of  stealing  the  liberties  of  two  millions  of  the 
creatures  of  God,  and  withholding  the  just  recompense  of  their 
labor  ;  of  ruthlessly  invading  the  holiest  relations  of  life,  and 
cruelly  separating  the  dearest  ties  of  nature  ;  of  denying  these 
miserable  victims  necessary  food  and  clothing  for  their  perish 
able  bodies,  and  light  and  knowledge  for  their  immortal  souls ; 
of  tearing  the  husband  from  his  wife,  the  mother  from  her 
babe,  and  children  from  their  parents,  and  of  perpetrating  upon 
the  poor  and  needy  every  species  of  outrage  and  oppression. 

11  And,  finally,  I  accuse  her  of  being  callously  indifferent  to 
the  accumulated  wrongs  and  sufferings  of  her  black  popula 
tion,  assiduous  in  extenuating  her  oppressive  acts,  and  de 
termined  to  slumber  upon  the  brink  of  a  volcano  which  is  in 
full  operation,  and  which  threatens  to  roll  its  lava  tide  over  the 
whole  land." 

He  cited  O'ConnelFs  reply  to  the  excuse  that  England 
had  established  and  encouraged  American  slavery,  with 
its  tingling  conclusion — "The  friends  of  humanity  and 
liberty  in  Europe  should  join  in  the  universal  cry  of 
Shame  on  the  American  slaveholders!  Base  wretches, 
should  we  shout  in  chorus  —  base  wretches,  how  dare 
you  profane  the  temple  of  national  freedom,  the  sacred 
fane  of  republican  rites,  with  the  presence  and  the 
sufferings  of  human  beings  in  chains  and  slavery!" 
"  Sir,"  continued  Mr.  Garrison,  "  never  was  a  more  just 
and  fearless  rebuke  given  to  a  guilty  nation.  .  .  . 
Whatever  responsibility  may  attach  to  Great  Britain  for 
the  introduction  of  slavery  into  the  United  States  (and 
to  talk  of  robbery  and  kidnapping  as  things  that  may 
be  entailed  is  precious  absurdity),  the  first  moment  the 
people  of  the  United  States  published  their  Declaration 
of  Independence  to  the  world,  from  that  moment  they 
became  exclusively  accountable  for  the  existence  and 
continuance  of  negro  slavery." 

The  last  of  the  long  array  of  charges  next  brought 
against  the  Colonization  Society  was  its  denial  that  the 
free  blacks  could  ever  be  elevated ;  which  opened  the 


374  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON.  [^ET.  28. 


CHAP.  XL    way  for  the  following  vindication  from  their  champion 
!83~3.        in  Exeter  Hall  : 

Lib.  3:179.  "Mr.  Chairman,  niy  soul  sickens  in  turning  over  these 
masses  of  moral  corruption,  and  I  hasten  to  a  close.  I  cannot 
boast,  like  Mr.  Cresson,  of  defraying  my  own  expenses  ;  for  he 
is  opulent,  and  I  am  poor.  All  that  I  have  is  dedicated  to  this 
cause.  But  I  am  proud  to  say  that  the  funds  for  my  mission  to 
this  country  were  principally  made  up  by  the  voluntary  con 
tributions  of  my  free  colored  brethren,  at  a  very  short  notice. 
I  stand  before  you  as  their  mouthpiece,  and  with  their  bless 
ings  resting  upon  my  head.  Persecuted,  derided,  yet  noble 
people  !  never  can  I  repay  generosity  and  love  like  theirs. 
Sir,  I  am  sorry  to  trespass  a  moment  longer  upon  this  meet 
ing,  but  I  beg  a  brief  indulgence  that  I  may  discharge  an  act 
of  justice  toward  that  persecuted  class.  You  have  heard  them 
described  this  day,  by  the  American  Colonization  Society,  as 
the  most  abandoned  wretches  on  the  face  of  the  earth  —  as 
constituting  all  that  is  vile,  loathsome  and  dangerous  ;  as 
being  more  degraded  and  miserable  than  the  slaves.  Sir,  it  is 
not  possible  for  the  mind  to  coin,  or  the  tongue  to  utter,  baser 
libels  against  an  injured  people.  Their  condition  is  as  much 
superior  to  that  of  the  slaves  as  the  light  of  heaven  is  more 
cheering  than  the  darkness  of  the  pit.  Many  of  their  number 
are  in  the  most  affluent  circumstances,  and  distinguished  for 
their  refinement,  enterprise  and  talents.  They  have  nourish 
ing  churches,  supplied  by  pastors  of  their  own  color,  in  various 
parts  of  the  land,  embracing  a  large  body  of  the  truly  excellent 
of  the  earth.  They  have  public  and  private  libraries.  They 
have  their  temperance  societies,  their  debating  societies,  their 
moral  societies,  their  literary  societies,  their  benevolent  societies, 
their  savings  societies,  and  a  multitude  of  kindred  associations. 
They  have  their  infant  schools,  their  primary  and  high  schools, 
their  Sabbath  schools,  and  their  Bible  classes.  They  contribute 
to  the  support  of  foreign  and  domestic  missions,  to  Bible  and 
tract  societies,  &c.  In  the  city  of  Philadelphia  alone,  they  have 
more  than  fifty  different  associations  for  their  moral  and  intel 
lectual  improvement.  In  fact,  they  are  rising  up,  even  with 
mountains  of  prejudice  piled  upon  them,  with  more  than 
Titanic  strength,  and  trampling  beneath  their  feet  the  slanders 
of  their  enemies.  A  spirit  of  virtuous  emulation  is  pervading 
their  ranks,  from  the  young  child  to  the  gray  head.  Among 
them  is  taken  a  large  number  of  daily  and  weekly  newspapers, 


^T.  28.]  FIRST   ENGLISH   MISSION.  375 

and  of  literary  and  scientific  periodicals,  from  the  popular  CHAP.  XI. 
monthlies  up  to  the  grave  and  erudite  North  American  and 
American  Quarterly  Reviews.  I  have  at  this  moment,  to  my  own 
paper,  the  Liberator,  one  thousand  subscribers  among  this 
people ;  and,  from  an  occupancy  of  the  editorial  chair  for 
more  than  seven  years,  I  can  testify  that  they  are  more  punctual 
in  their  payments  than  any  five  hundred  white  subscribers 
whose  names  I  ever  placed  indiscriminately  in  my  subscrip 
tion  book." 

Mr.  Garrison  pointed  to  the  Rev.  Nathaniel  Paul,  who 
sat  upon  the  platform,  as  a  specimen  of  the  calumniated 
race — "a  gentleman  with  whom  the  proudest  or  best 
man  on  earth  need  not  blush  to  associate" ;  and  after  quot 
ing  from  the  '  Thoughts  'the  anti-colonization  resolutions 
of  the  free  people  of  color,,  and  describing  the  practical 
effects  of  the  Society,  he  closed  with  an  appeal  for 
British  support  of  the  American  anti-slavery  movement : 

"  Sure  I  am  that  my  appeal  in  behalf  of  my  oppressed  coun-  Lib.  3 : 179. 
trymen  will  be  felt  here,  and  in  every  part  of  this  land.  It  is 
impossible  that  the  British  people,  proudly  standing,  as  they 
now  are,  upon  the  neck  of  colonial  slavery — it  is  impossible  for 
them  to  consider  their  work  at  an  end  whilst  there  remains  a 
human  being  held  as  a  chattel  under  the  whole  heavens.  And 
let  me  assure  them,  for  their  encouragement,  that  all  is  not 
dark  or  hopeless  in  the  United  States.  Thousands  have  caught 
a  portion  of  their  zeal  5  the  abolition  spirit  is  abroad  in  our 
land,  with  great  power,  and  is  traversing  its  length  and  breadth, 
conquering  and  to  conquer ;  abolition  societies  are  formed  and 
multiplying,  in  every  free  section  of  our  territory,  on  the  prin 
ciple  of  immediate  and  unconditional  emancipation  j  four 
periodicals l  have  been  established  expressly  to  maintain  the 
cause  of  the  afflicted  and  the  right  of  the  poor,  and  a  multitude 
of  our  political  and  religious  periodicals  are  now  freely  discuss 
ing  the  question  of  negro  slavery  j  strong  exertions  are  making 
for  the  repeal  of  all  those  laws  which  now  disfranchise  our  free 
colored  population,  and  schools  are  multiplying  for  their  mental 
cultivation.  The  American  Colonization  Society  is  falling  like 
Lucifer,  never  to  rise  again ;  and  ere  the  termination  of  this 
year,  I  trust  your  hearts  will  be  cheered  with  the  intelligence 

i  That  is,  Lundy's  Genius,  the  Liberator,  the  Abolitionist,  and  the  Eman 
cipator. 


376  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON.  [^T.  28. 


CHAP.  XI.    that   a   National  Abolition   Society  has   been   formed  in  the 
jZ"          United  States  of  America." 

Lib.  3  :  178.  In  the  midst  of  Mr.  Garrison's  address  he  was  inter 
rupted  by  "  deafening  and  long-continued  thunders  of 
applause,"  which  greeted  the  entrance  of  Daniel  O'Con- 
nell.  The  Irish  Liberator,  in  a  private  interview  with  Mr. 
Garrison  upon  the  subject  of  the  Colonization  Society, 
had  asked,  "Why  don't  you  hold  a  public  meeting  in 
Exeter  Hall  ?  "  Upon  which  Mr.  Garrison  expressed  his 
doubt  whether  the  popular  interest  iii  the  subject  would 
ensure  an  audience.  "Well,"  said  O'Connell,  "  I  '11  come 
and  make  a  speech  for  you."  "  Agreed,"  said  Mr.  Gar 
rison,  and  the  arrangements  were  begun.  But  when  the 
meeting  had  assembled,  O'Connell  was  wanting.  Scouts 
were  sent  out  for  him,  and  he  was  found  at  a  breakfast, 
just  rising  to  his  feet  to  make  a  speech  :  he  had  entirely 
forgotten  the  appointment.  A  note  of  reminder  was 
slipt  into  his  hands,  and  he  at  once  excused  himself. 
Driven  rapidly  to  the  Hall  he  came  upon  the  platform, 
and  at  the  proper  moment  "threw  off  his  magnificent 
speech  as  he  threw  off  his  coat,"  as  Mr.  Garrison  was 
fond  of  saying  in  after  years. 

This  speech,  humorous,  disjointed,  occasionally  blun 
dering  (as  where  O'Connell  expressed  sympathy  with  the 
"  oppressed  State  "  of  South  Carolina  in  the  nullification 
controversy),  was  also  characteristically  eloquent,  and 
calculated  to  probe  American  susceptibilities  to  the  quick. 

Lib.  3:  186.  "  I  will  now  go  to  America,"  said  he,  after  a  reference  to 
the  anti-slavery  crisis  in  England  and  the  pending  issue 
of  compensation  and  apprenticeship.  "I  have  often 
longed  to  go  there  in  reality  5  but  so  long  as  it  is  tar 
nished  by  slavery,  I  will  never  pollute  my  foot  by  tread 
ing  on  its  shores."  Of  the  American  slave-owners  he 
declared,  amid  cheering  :  "  They  are  the  basest  of  the 
base  —  the  most  execrable  of  the  execrable.  I  thank  God 
that  upon  the  wings  of  the  press  the  voice  of  so  humble 
an  individual  as  myself  will  pass  against  the  western 
breeze  —  that  it  will  reach  the  rivers,  the  lakes,  the 
mountains,  and  the  glens  of  America  —  and  that  the 


MT.  28.]  FIKST   ENGLISH   MISSION.  377 

friends  of  liberty  there  will  sympathize  with  me,  and  re-  CHAP.  XL 
joice  that  I  here  tear  down  the  image  of  liberty  from  the  T8j3. 
recreant  land  of  America,  and  condemn  her  as  the  vilest 
of  hypocrites,  the  greatest  of  liars."  With  slight  rhetori 
cal  variation  he  repeated  his  message  :  "  Why,  I  tell  the 
American  slaveholder  that  he  shall  not  have  silence  j 
for,  humble  as  I  am,  and  feeble  as  my  voice  may  be,  yet, 
deafening  the  sound  of  the  westerly  wave,  and  riding 
against  the  blast  as  thunder  goes,  it  shall  reach  America, 
and  tell  the  black  man  that  the  time  of  his  emancipation 
is  come,  and  the  oppressor  that  the  period  of  his  injustice 
is  terminated."  Applying  his  sarcasm  to  the  Colonization 
Society,  he  called  it  a  humbug,  and  "  the  most  ludicrous 
Society  that  ever  yet  was  dreamed  of."  He  moved  a 
resolution  that  its  fundamental  principle  was  ever  the 
colonization  of  the  free  people  of  color,  "  and  abolition 
never  the  object,  but  on  the  contrary  the  security  of  slave 
property  "  j  which  was  seconded  by  Captain  Stuart  and 
carried  unanimously. 

Cresson  was  as  usual  not  on  hand,  but  the  Society  had 
as  defenders  two  members  of  Parliament  and  a  converted 
Jew  from  Andover,  Mass.,  to  the  former  of  whom  Thomp 
son  made  an  admirable  rejoinder.  Resolutions  in  further 
denunciation  of  the  fraudulent  and  oppressive  character 
of  the  Society,  and  in  cordial  approbation  of  the  princi-  Lib.  3 : 193, 
pies  of  the  New-England  Anti-Slavery  Society,  were  also 
passed  without  dissent,  and  the  meeting  came  to  an  end. 
A  few  days  afterward  Mr.  Garrison  received  the  follow 
ing  emphatic  letter  from  Zachary  Macaulay,  by  whose  MS.  July  5, 
prudent  advice  the  object  of  the  meeting  had  been  made,  j 
not  an  attack  on  American  slavery,  but  on  the  Coloniza 
tion  Society : 

Zachary  Macaulay  to  W.  L.  Garrison. 

CONWAY,  NORTH  WALES,  July  14, 1833.       Lib.  3: 169. 

MY  DEAR  SIR  :  Our  friend,  Mr.  Cropper,  will  Lave  informed 

you  of  the  impossibility  of  my  complying  with  your  request,  of 

sending  you  an  explanation  of  the  causes  of  my  absence  from 

your  meeting  yesterday.     I  certainly  would  not  willingly  have 


378  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAKKISON.  [-£T.  28. 

CHAP.  XI.  been  absent,  for  it  was  my  desire  to  take  every  fair  opportunity 
of  testifying  my  utter  and  increasing  disapprobation  of  the  prin 
ciples  professed,  on  the  subject  of  negro  slavery,  by  the  Ameri 
can  Colonization  Society.  I  can  have  no  objection,  indeed,  to 
the  plan  of  colonizing  in  Africa,  with  a  view  to  its  civilization, 
and  to  the  extension  of  Christianity  in  that  de'eply  injured  quarter 
of  the  globe.  On  the  contrary,  I  desire  above  all  things  to  see 
such  plans,  conceived  in  the  true  spirit  of  philanthropy,  multi 
plying  on  that  coast.  But  the  Colonization  Society  appears  to 
me  to  adopt,  as  the  basis  of  its  schemes,  not  the  love,  but  the 
hatred  and  contempt  of  the  negro  race,  and  to  regard  every  one 
tinged  with  their  blood  as  an  object,  not  of  kindness  and  brother 
hood,  but  of  abhorrence,  and  of  exclusion  from  the  common 
sympathies  and  affinities  of  our  nature,  and  from  that  union 
and  fellowship  in  that  Saviour  in  whom  there  is  neither  Jew  nor 
Gentile,  Barbarian  nor  Scythian,  American  nor  African,  black 
nor  white,  bond  nor  free,  but  we  are  all  one  in  Christ  Jesus. 

The  unchristian  prejudice  of  color,  (which  alone  has  given 
birth  to  the  Colonization  Society,  though  varnished  over  with 
other  more  plausible  pretences,  and  veiled  under  a  profession 
of  a  Christian  regard  for  the  temporal  and  spiritual  interests  of 
the  negro  which  is  belied  by  the  whole  course  of  its  reason 
ings  and  the  spirit  of  its  measures,)  is  so  detestable  in  itself  that 
I  think  it  ought  not  to  be  tolerated,  but,  on  the  contrary,  ought 
to  be  denounced  and  opposed  by  all  humane,  and  especially 
by  all  pious,  persons  in  this  country.  And  it  especially  becomes 
those  who  have  taken  any  active  part  on  behalf  of  the  negro 
race,  whether  in  this  country  or  in  the  United  States,  to  keep 
aloof  from  all  cooperation  with  a  body  whose  evident  purpose 
is  adverse,  not  only  to  the  liberty  of  the  enslaved  negro,  but 
to  the  moral  and  political  elevation  of  the  free  negro. 

I  beg  to  express  my  sense  of  the  eminent  services  you  have 
rendered  to  the  cause  of  humanity,  by  your  able  and  persever 
ing  exposure  of  the  evil  tendency  of  the  principles  on  which 
the  Colonization  Society  acts,  and  trust  that  your  exertions  will 
be  crowned  with  success.  I  remain,  my  dear  sir, 

Yours  very  faithfully,          ZACHARY  MACAULAY. 

Clarkson  visited,  and  a  few  parting  shots  sent  after 
the  "  impostor  "  Cresson  l  (who  was  discovered  to  be  on 

l  See  two  letters  to  the  London  Patriot,  dated  July  22  and  Aug.  6, 1833 
(Lib.  3:169,  201).  In  the  last,  Mr.  Garrison  says,  "I  maintain  that  the 
guilt  of  slavery  is  national,  its  danger  is  national,  and  the  obligation  to  re 
move  it  is  national." 


Mi.  28.J  FIRST   ENGLISH   MISSION.  379 

his  way  to  Ireland,  "  in  company  with  an  Irish  female    CHAP.  XL 
partisan/'  but  would  find  that  O'ConnelPs  speech  had        ^3, 
reached    Dublin    before   him),   Mr.    Garrison's    mission 
seemed   ended.     The   Providence,   however,   which   had 
brought  him  to  England  in  season  to  witness  the  passage    Lib.  3 : 163. 
by  Parliament  of  the  bill  emancipating  800,000  slaves  in 
the  British  West  Indies,  had  in  store  for  him  an  even 
more  precious  privilege.     Three  days  after  the  reading 
of  the  bill  for  the  second  time  in  the  House  of  Commons 
(July  26) l  Wilberforce  breathed  his  last  in  London,  and 
a  week  later  still  (August  5)  his  remains  were  interred  in 
Westminster  Abbey  by  the  side  of  Fox  and  Pitt.     In  the 
unexampled  train  of  mourners,  behind  "princes  of  the 
blood-royal,  prelates   of  the   church,   members   of  both      London 
Houses    of    Parliament,   many   of    England's    proudest     w.  L.  G., 
nobility,  and  representatives  of  the  intellect,  virtue,  phi-  47' 

lanthropy,  and  industry  of  the  land"  —  behind  Welling 
ton,  Peel,  Graham,  Morpeth,  Fowell  Buxton,  Lushington, 
Stanley,  the  Grattans  —  walked  with  his  friend  George 
Thompson  the  editor  of  the  Liberator,  the  least  observed 
and  the  least  known  of  the  funeral  procession,  yet  the 
one  upon  whom,  if  upon  any  one,  Wilberforce's  mantle 
had  fallen,  and  whose  prominence  in  this  historic  scene 
must  grow  with  the  shifting  perspective  of  time. 

On  Saturday,  the  18th  of  August,  Mr.  Garrison  em 
barked  from  London  in  the  packet-ship  Hannibal,  Capt. 
Hebard,  for  the  United   States.     At  the  end  of  a  week 
Portsmouth  was  reached,  and  farewell  letters  despatched    MS.  Aug. 
to  his  English  friends,  who  had  generously  supplemented  from 
the  deficiency  of  his  travelling  credit.     Five  weeks  more 
must  elapse  2  before  he  could  set  foot  on  his  native  soil, 
where  a  reception  awaited  him  as  opposite  as  possible  to 
that  which  he  had  met  with  in  England. 

1  It  received  the  royal  assent  Aug.  28,  1833. 

2  The  Hannibal  left  Portsmouth  on  Aug.  26,  and  reached  New  York  on 
Sunday  evening,  Sept.  29,  1833. 


CHAPTER  XII. 
AMERICAN  ANTI-SLAVERY  SOCIETY.  —  1833. 


CHAP.  xii.  j  I  ^IME  would  vindicate  the  essentially  patriotic  service 
1833.  JL  which  Mr.  Garrison  had  rendered  by  cementing  the 
alliance  between  British  philanthropy  and  American  abo 
litionism  ;  but,  for  the  moment,  his  faithful  exposure  of 
the  national  guilt  of  slaveholding  —  his  "washing  dirty 
linen  abroad  "  —  caused  him  to  be  looked  upon  at  home 
as  the  detractor  and  enemy  of  his  country.  Not  only 
what  he  had  himself  said  in  Exeter  Hall,  but  O'Conn  ell's 
contemptuous  treatment  of  the  colonization  "  humbug/' 
and  tremendous  denunciation  of  American  slave-owners, 
were  treasured  up  against  his  return.  The  colonization 
organs  sedulously  fanned  the  public  heat  caused  by  the 
wounding  of  the  national  amour  propre,  and  the  mind 
of  the  respectable  classes  was  prepared  for  any  form  of 
popular  resentment  against  Mr.  Garrison  by  the  publica 
tion,  in  the  Boston  Daily  Advertiser  and  in  Niletf  Register, 
while  he  was  still  afloat,  of  Harrison  Gray  Otis's  letter  to 

Ante,  p.  242.   a  South  Carolinian,  already  referred  to.     Cresson,  too, 

Lib.  3  :  151.  had  written  to  the  N.  Y.  Commercial  Advertiser  :  "  I  have 
only  time  by  this  packet  to  tell  thee  that  Garrison  and 
the  Anti-SlaVery  Society  are  fully  employed  in  endeavor 
ing  to  crush  me,  hunt  the  Colonization  Society  out  of 
the  country,  and  vilify  our  national  character." 

Lib.  3  :  163.  The  flame  broke  out  by  reason  of  an  "  unpremeditated 
coincidence"  for  which  Mr.  Garrison  was  in  no  wise 
responsible.  Notices  of  a  public  meeting  to  form  that 
New  York  City  Anti-Slavery  Society  which  he  had  effect- 

Lib.  3:161.    ively  encouraged  on  his  departure,  were  read  from  the 


-ET.  28.]  AMEEICAN    ANTI-SLAVEKY   SOCIETY.  381 

pulpits  l  on  the  very  day  the  Hannibal  cast  anchor  in  CHAP.  XH. 
New  York  harbor,  and  the  Courier  and  Enquirer  at  once  I^> 
associated  it  with  his  arrival.  The  notorious  Garrison 
has  returned ;  the  "  friends  of  immediate  emancipation  " 
are  summoned  to  meet  together.  "  What,  then,  is  to  be  Lib.  3 :  161. 
done!  Are  we  tamely  to  look  on,  and  see  this  most 
dangerous  species  of  fanaticism  extending  itself  through 
society'?  ...  Or  shall  we,  by  promptly  and  fearlessly 
crushing  this  many-headed  Hydra  in  the  bud,  expose  the 
weakness  as  well  as  the  folly,  madness,  and  mischief  of 
these  bold  and  dangerous  men  ? "  Everybody,  continued 
the  editor,  favors  immediate  emancipation  with  compen 
sation,  and  accordingly  he  recommended  the  mob  to 
accept  the  invitation  to  attend  at  Clinton  Hall,  that  same 
evening  (October  2),  and  to  join  in  the  calm  and  temperate 
discussion  of  the  different  propositions.  A  communica 
tion  to  the  same  paper  from  the  "  Ghost  of  Peter  the 
Hermit"  predicted  slaughter  as  the  result  of  the  anti- 
slavery  crusade,  "  if  you  listen  to  my  voice  now,  and  to 
the  solicitations  of  the  pacific  Garrison.  He  will  un 
doubtedly  have  great  weight  with  you  from  having 
abused  and  maligned  your  country  with  such  patriotic 
ardor  abroad !  He  comes  in  the  flush  of  triumph,  and 
with  the  flatteries  still  on  his  ear  of  those  who  wish  not 
well  to  your  country."  Similar  incentives  were  employed 
by  the  Standard  of  the  same  date :  "  In  this  matter  we  Lib.  3 : 161. 
have  a  duty  to  perform,  not  to  ourselves  alone,  but  to  our 
brethren  of  the  South.  .  .  .  We  are  not  astonished 
at  the  excitement  which  the  acts  of  Garrison  and  his 
friends  have  produced  in  this  community.  .  .  .  Let 
the  people  look  to  it."  Meantime,  placards  were  posted 
about  the  city  bearing  the  following  significant 

NOTICE.  £#.3:161. 

TO   ALL   PERSONS   FROM   THE    SOUTH. 

All  persons  interested  in  the  subject  of  a  meeting  called  by 
J.  Leavitt,  W.  Green,  Jr.,  W.  Goodell,  J.  Rankin,  Lewis  Tap- 

1  Not  from  all :  some  refused  (Lib.  3 : 162). 


382  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAEEISON.  |>ET.  28. 

CHAP.  XII.    pan,  at  Clinton  Hall,  this  evening  at  7  o'clock,  are  requested 
jjjT          to  attend  at  the  same  hour  and  place. 

MANY  SOUTHERNERS. 
New  York,  Oct.  2,  1833. 

N.  B.  All  Citizens  who  may  feel  disposed  to  manifest  the 
true  feeling  of  the  State  on  this  subject,  are  requested  to  attend. 

How  Mr.  Garrison  spent  the  interval  between  Sunday 
and  Wednesday  evenings  (unless  at  quarantine)  is  not- 
known,  nor  whether  he  had  met  with  his  anti-slavery 
associates  in  the  city  up  to  the  hour  of  the  meeting, 
towards  which,  as  a  simple  spectator,  he  made  his  way  in 
the  midst  of  a  large  and  threatening  crowd.  Arrived  at 
Clinton  Hall,1  it  was  found  closed.  The  Trustees,  Ar 
thur  Tappan  excepted,  had  withdrawn  their  permission 
to  hold  the  meeting,  which  accordingly  had  been  quietly 
adjourned  to  the  Chatham-Street  Chapel,2  where  organi 
zation  was  effected  and  a  constitution  barely  adopted 
before  the  mob,  which  had  meantime  been  passing  reso 
lutions  in  Tammany  Hall,  burst  in  on  the  heels  of  the 
retreating  members.  The  story  of  the  riot  has  been  told 
in  the  i  Life  of  Arthur  Tappan  '  (pp.  168-175)  and  in  John 
son's  l  Garrison  and  his  Times'  (p.  145).  Mr.  Garrison's 
relations  to  it  are  all  that  can  concern  us  here.  Swag 
gering  John  Neal,3  who,  naturally  enough  as  a  "  noto 
rious  Colonizationist,"  took  a  leading  part  in  it,  has  left 

1  This  building,  situated  on  the  corner  of  Beekman  Street  and  Theatre 
Alley,  with  a  wing  on  Nassau  Street,  was  demolished  in  May,  1881.     £or  a 
view  of  it,  see  p.  52  of  '  A  Picture  of  New  York  in  1846 '  (New  York  :  Ho- 
mans  &  Ellis)  or  p.  19  of  the  N.  Y.  Phrenological  Journal  for  January, 
1885.     In   1861-62,  the   office  of  the  National  Anti-Slavery  Standard,  the 
organ  of  the  American  Anti-Slavery  Society,  was  in  the  second  story  of 
Clinton  Hall. 

2  The  Rev.  Charles  G.  Finney's.     The  site  was  just  east  of  the  terminus 
of  the  Brooklyn  bridge. 

3  "  There  swaggers  John  Neal,  who  has  wasted  in  Maine 
The  sinews  and  chords  of  his  pugilist  brain. 

A  man  who  's  made  less  than  he  might  have,  because 
He  always  has  thought  himself  more  than  he  was." 

Lowell's  '  Fable  for  Critics.' 


.  28.] 


AMERICAN   ANTI- SLAVERY   SOCIETY. 


383 


this  blundering  account  in  his  l  Wandering  Recollections   CHAP.  xn. 
of  a  Somewhat  Bus    Life ' : 


u  As  I  happened  to  be  going  through  New  York,  with  my 
wife,  on  our  way  to  the  Western  country,  and  thence  to  Europe, 
in  1834,  or  1835,  I  should  say,  I  found  myself  one  day  in  the 
Courier  and  Enquirer  office,  where,  by  the  way,  I  first  met  with 
Mr.  Bennett,  who  had  just  been  secured  for  that  paper,  and 
was  there  introduced  to  me  by  Colonel  Webb.  I  was  informed 
that  a  meeting  was  called  in  the  Park,  by  William  Lloyd  Gar 
rison,  for  that  very  evening.  After  some  talk,  I  consented  to 
take  a  hand.  It  was  arranged  that  we  should  all  go  to  the 
meeting,  and  adjourn  to  Old  Tammany,  and  that  there  I  should 
offer  a  resolution,  which  was  to  be  seconded  by  Mr.  Graham, 
afterward  postmaster.  We  went,  took  possession  of  the  meet 
ing,  and  adjourned  to  Tammany ;  and  I  had  the  greatest  diffi 
culty  in  crowding  my  way  up  to  the  platform  all  out  of  breath, 
choked  with  dust,  and  steaming  with  perspiration,  where  I 
called  for  Mr.  Garrison,  or  any  of  his  friends,  to  appear ;  prom 
ising  them  safe  conduct  and  fair  play.  But  nobody  answered. 
I  made  a  short  speech :  Graham  backed  out ;  and  the  resolutions 
were  passed  with  a  roar  like  that  you  may  sometimes  hear  in 
the  Bay  of  Fundy. 

"  On  my  way  out,  I  was  completely  surrounded,  lifted  off  my 
feet,  and  carried  by  storm  into  a  cellar,  and,  by  the  time  we 
were  seated  at  the  table,  out  sprang  half  a  score  of  bowie- 
knives,  and  as  many  pistols  j  and  at  least  a  dozen  cards  were 
handed  me,  with  '  Alabama,'  '  Georgia,'  and  l  South  Carolina,' 
under  the  names.  They  had  proposed,  a  few  minutes  before, 
to  go  after  Garrison,  to  some  church,  where  they  were  told  he 
was  to  be  found  j  and  went  so  far  as  to  say  that,  when  I  called 
for  him,  if  he  had  appeared  on  the  platform,  they  would  have 
*  rowed  him  up  Salt  River.'  And  then  they  asked  me  if  I  had 
not  seen  their  handbill.  I  had  not,  nor  heard  it  mentioned  j 
but  it  seems  that  in  the  afternoon  they  had  issued  a  poster, 
calling  upon  the  '  men  of  the  South  '  to  be  present  at  the  meet 
ing,  which  was  to  take  place  in  the  Park.  I  told  them  what 
would  have  been  the  consequences,  if  they  had  meddled  with 
Garrison  where  I  was ;  for  we  were  banded  together,  Colonel 
Webb,  Mr.  Graham,  and  perhaps  twenty  more,  with  a  deter 
mination  to  see  fair  play,  at  the  risk  of  our  lives — taking 
it  for  granted  that  free  discussion  could  do  the  cause  of  truth 
no  harm.  To  this  my  new  Southern  friends  assented,  at  last, 


P.  401. 


Jas.  Gordon 

Bennett. 

Jas.  Watson 

Webb. 


Jas.  Lorimei 
Graham. 


384  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON.  [^T.  28. 


CHAP.  XII.    and  gave  up  the  idea  of  tearing  down  a  church  because  a 
jjJT          hunted  man  had  found  shelter  with  the  women  there  j  and  we 
parted  in  peace."  1 

The  contemporary  record  of  NeaPs  exploits  (in  which 
his  potential  control  of  the  mob  naturally  does  not 
appear)  reads  as  follows  : 

N.  Y.  "In  the  course  of  his  remarks,  he  gave  a  correct  portrait  of 

?'i833  \  '    Garrison,  whom  he  designated  as  a  man  who  had  gone  through 

Lib.  3  :  162.    this  country  as  far  as  he  had  dared,  to  promulgate  his  doctrines, 

and  had  also  crossed  the  Atlantic  with  the  same  object.     He 

stated  that  Garrison  and  his  associates  were  willing  to  trample 

the  Constitution  under  foot,  by  the  influence  of  anti-slavery 

societies  ;  and  the  object  of  the  present  call  was  to  appoint  an 

Auxiliary  Society  to  that  already  established  in  the  Eastern 

States  by  himself  and  a  few  deluded  followers." 

Lib.  3:167.  An  eye-witness  of  the  mob  describes  it  as  "a  genuine, 
drunken,  infuriated  mob  of  blackguards  of  every  species, 
some  with  good  clothes,  and  the  major  part  the  very 
sweepings  of  the  city."  "  The  shouting,  screaming,  and 
mgf  cursing  for  Tappan  and  Garrison  defy  all  belief."  A 
merchant  in  respectable  circumstances  said  :  "  If  I  had 
my  will,  or  if  I  could  catch  him,  Garrison  should  be 
packed  up  in  a  box  with  air-holes,  marked  '  this  side  up/ 

Oct.  3,  1833;  and  so  shipped  to  Georgia."2  The  Commercial  Advertiser 
confirmed  this  report  :  "In  regard  to  "Win.  Lloyd  Garri 
son,  the  misguided  young  gentleman  who  has  just 
returned  from  England,  whither  he  has  recently  been  for 

1  There  was  a  comic  side  to  all  this.     "  I  suppose  our  citizen,  J.  Neal," 
writes  Nathan  Winslow  from  Portland  to  Mr.  Garrison,  Oct.  17,  1833  (MS.), 
"feels  quite  happy  in  haranguing  a  mob  where  he  can  disgorge  his  froth 
without  having  his  arguments  criticised.     We  thought  his  opposition  to 
our  cause  rather  aided  us,  he  is  so  well  known  in  this  place  ;  but  I  fear  it 
maybe  different  in  New  York.     It  is  singular  indeed  that  he  should  arraign 
thee  as  a  slanderer  of  thy  country  when  he  was,  on  his  return  from  Europe 
[1827],  near  being  mobbed  on  the  same  account.     Portland  was  filled  with 
handbills  circulated  by  those  whose  characters  he  had  traduced,  and  a 
colored  man  employed  to  follow  him  from  house  to  house.  Perhaps  this  may 
be  one  reason  of  his  aversion  to  that  race."     See,  also,  Lib.  4:  27. 

2  This  device  was  afterwards  found  useful  by  fugitives  coming  the  other 
way. 


Mi.  28.]  AMERICAN   ANTI- SLAVERY   SOCIETY.  385 

the  sole  purpose,  as  it  would  seem,  of  traducing  the  CHAP.  xu. 
people  and  institutions  of  his  own  country,1  and  who,  it  Is3"3. 
was  supposed,  was  to  have  taken  an  active  part  in  this 
meeting,  but  one  sentiment  appeared  to  prevail.  "We 
will  not  record  the  expressions  of  disgust  and  abhorrence 
which  were  coupled  with  his  name."  Had  he  been 
present,  many  "  grave  and  respectable  citizens "  would 
have  consented  to  his  being  tarred  and  feathered.  "  We 
hope,  most  sincerely,  that  not  a  hair  of  Mr.  Garrison's 
head  will  ever  be  injured  by  personal  violence  j  but  he 
will  do  well  to  consider  that  his  course  of  conduct  in 
England  has  kindled  a  spirit  of  hostility  towards  him  at 
home  which  cannot  be  easily  allayed.  He  will  act  wisely 
never  to  attempt  addressing  a  public  meeting  in  this 
country  again." 

The  Evening  Post  could  not  credit  the  stories  of  threat-  Oct.  3, 1833 ; 
ened  violence  to  Mr.  Garrison :  "  The  mere  feeling  of 
magnanimity  towards  an  antagonist  so  feebly  supported, 
with  so  few  adherents,  with  so  little  sympathy  in  his 
favor,  should  have  forbidden  the  expression  of  such  a 
design,  even  uttered  as  an  unmeaning  menace.  We  should 
be  sorry  that  any  invasion  of  his  personal  rights  should 
occur  to  give  him  consequence,  and  to  increase  the 
number  of  his  associates.  Garrison  is  a  man  who,  what 
ever  may  be  the  state  of  his  mind  on  other  topics,  is  as 
mad  as  the  winds  on  the  slavery  question."  It  added : 
"  We  know  of  no  question  of  public  policy  on  which  pub 
lic  opinion  is  so  unanimous  "  as  that  of  discountenancing 
the  abolitionists.  * 

Deplorably  ignorant  of  what  he  owed  to  NeaFs  friendly 
protection,  but  well  aware  how  much  restraint  magna 
nimity  had  imposed  on  the  mob  with  reference  to  himself, 
Mr.  Garrison  pursued  his  journey  to  Boston,  where  his 
approach  had  also  stirred  the  spirit  of  violence.  On 
Monday,  October  7,  the  following  handbill  was  generally 
circulated  throughout  the  city  : 

l  Mr.  Garrison  had  not  yet  become,  in  the  mouths  of  his  enemies,  a 
British  subject. 

VOL.  I.— 25 


386  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON.  [-&T.  28. 

/./*.  3:  163.  BOSTONIANS   AWAKE!! 

The  true  American  has  returned,  alias  "William  Lloyd  Gar 
rison,  the  "  Negro  Champion,"  from  his  disgraceful  mission  to 
the  British  metropolis,  whither  he  went  to  obtain  pecuniary 
aid,  and  the  countenance  of  Englishmen  to  wrest  the  American 
citizen's  property  which  he  has  fought  and  labored  for,  from 
out  of  their  hands,  and  thereby  deprive  the  southern  section  of 
Sic.  our  happy  union  the  only  means  of  obtaining  a  livelihood.  He 
has  held  meetings  in  the  city  of  London,  and  slandered  the 
Americans  to  the  utmost  of  his  power,  calling  them  a  set  of 
infernal  Renegadoes,  Turks,  Arabs,  &c.,  and  also  countenancing 
the  outrageous  conduct  of  Daniel  O'Connell,  who  at  one  of  his 
(Garrison's)  meetings,  called  us  "  a  set  of  sheep- stealers,  man- 
murderers,  and  that  the  blackest  corner  in  Hell's  bottomless  pit 
ought  to  be,  and  would  be,  the  future  destination  of  the  Americans!" 
And  this  said  Garrison  stood  by  his  side  and  assisted  him  in  his 
infamous  harangue.  Americans  !  will  you  brook  this  conduct  ? 
I  think  not.  He  is  now  in  your  power  —  do  not  let  him  escape 
you,  but  go  this  evening,  armed  with  plenty  of  tar  and  feathers, 
and  administer  him  justice  at  his  abode  at  No.  9,  Merchants' 
Hall,  Congress-st. 

A  NORTH  ENDER. 

Boston,  October  7,  1833. 

£#.3:163.  This  base  appeal  sufficed  to  surround  the  Liberator 
office  that  night  with  "  a  dense  mob,  breathing  threaten- 
ings  which  foreboded  a  storm."  But  as  yet,  even  in 
Boston,  Mr.  Garrison  was  so  little  known  to  the  public 
that  he  might,  as  in  New  York,  have  mingled  unsus 
pected  with  his  pursuers.  .In  fact,  nothing  came  of 
the  demonstration  except  a  silly  suggestion  by  the 

Lib.  3  -.  163.  Post,  that  the  inflammatory  handbill  had  "  been  printed 
and  distributed  by  friends  of  Mr.  Garrison";  and  the 
equally  silly  comment  of  the  incredulous  Transcript, 
that  Mr.  Garrison  was  "  not  quite  so  mad,  (lunatic  as 
he  is,  on  the  subject  of  negro  slaves  and  slavery,)  as 
to  excite  still  further  the  indignation  of  his  fellow- 
citizens  by  such  or  any  similar  act  of  indiscretion  and 
folly."  The  madman  (by  the  concurrent  judgment  of 


JET.  28.]  AMEKICAN   ANTI-SLAVERY   SOCIETY.  387 

two  cities)  paid  his  respects  to  both  the  mobs  and  their  CHAP.  xn. 
promoters  at  his  first  opportunity,  in  the  Liberator :  1833. 

"  To  the  charge  made  against  me  by  the  cowardly  ruffian  £#.3:163. 
who  conducts  the  New  York  Courier  and  Enquirer,1  and  by  the 
miserable  liar  and  murderous  hypocrite  of  the  New  York  Com 
mercial  Advertiser,2  of  having  slandered  my  country  abroad,  I 
reply  that  it  is  false.  All  that  I  uttered  in  England  in  refer 
ence  to  the  institutions  and  practices  of  the  United  States  shall 
be  given  to  the  public.  I  did  not  hesitate  there  —  I  have  not 
hesitated  here  —  I  shall  hesitate  nowhere,  to  brand  this  country 
as  hypocritical  and  tyrannical  in  its  treatment  of  the  people  of 
color,  whether  bond  or  free.  If  this  be  calumny,  I  dealt  freely 
in  it,  as  I  shall  deal,  as  long  as  slavery  exists  among  us  —  or,  at 
least,  as  long  as  the  power  of  utterance  is  given  to  my  tongue. 
Still — slavery  aside — I  did  not  fail  to  eulogize  my  country,  before 
a  British  audience,  in  terms  of  affection,  admiration  and  respect. 

"  As  to  the  menaces  and  transactions  of  the  New  York  mob,  I 
regard  them  with  mingled  emotions  of  pity  and  contempt.  I  was 
an  eye-witness  of  that  mob,  from  the  hour  of  its  assembling 
at  Clinton  Hall  to  its  final  assault  upon  the  Chatham- Street 
Chapel  —  standing  by  it;  undisguisedly,  as  calm  in  my  feelings  as 
if  those  who  were  seeking  my  life  were  my  warmest  supporters.3 

"  The  frantic  annunciation  of  the  worthless  Webb  — '  The 
Agitators  Defeated!  The  Constitution  Triumphant."  —  is  ex 
tremely  ludicrous.  It  is  not  possible  that  even  that  wretched 
man  can,  for  a  moment,  delude  himself  with  the  notion  that 
any  abolitionist  will  abandon  the  holy  cause  which  he  has 
espoused,  in  consequence  of  any  threats  or  any  acts  of  per 
sonal  violence.  For  myself,  I  am  ready  to  brave  any  danger, 
even  unto  death.  I  feel  no  uneasiness  either  in  regard  to  my 
fate  or  to  the  success  of  the  cause  of  abolition.  Slavery  must 
speedily  be  abolished  :  the  blow  that  shall  sever  the  chains  of 
the  slaves  may  shake  the  nation  to  its  centre  —  may  momen 
tarily  disturb  the  pillars  of  the  Union  — but  it  shall  redeem  the 
character,  extend  the  influence,  establish  the  security,  and 
increase  the  prosperity  of  our  great  republic. 

"  I  cannot  express  the  admiration  which  I  feel  in  view  of  the 
moral  courage  and  unshrinking  determination  of  those  who 
assembled  at  Chatham- Street  Chapel,  in  despite  of  peril  and 

l  James  Watson  Webb.  2  Col.  William  L.  Stone. 

3  "There  are  men  who  rise  refreshed  on  hearing  a  threat"  (R.  W. 
Emerson,  Divinity  School  Address,  July  15,  1838). 


388 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKEISON. 


[JET.  28. 


CHAP.  XII. 

1833- 


Lib.  3 :  179, 

and  Preface 

to  pamphlet, 

Speeches  in 

Exeter  Hall, 

July  13, 

1833- 


reproach,  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  an  Anti- Slavery  Society. 
The  Constitution  which  they  adopted  breathes  an  excellent 
spirit,  and  is  sound  in  principle.  Such  men  can  never  be  intimi 
dated  by  the  vile. 

"  The  whole  of  this  disgraceful  excitement  owes  its  origin 
and  execution  to  the  prominent  advocates  of  the  Colonization 
Society.1  The  first  who  had  the  hardihood  to  stigmatize  me  as 
having  gone  abroad  to  calumniate  my  country,  were  those 
wholesale  dealers  in  falsehood  and  scurrility,  Robert  S.  Finley, 
Joshua  N.  Danforth,  and  Cyril  Pearl. 

"An  attempt  to  create  an  excitement  was  made  on  my 
arrival  in  this  city,  by  some  anonymous  blackguard,  which 
met  with  partial  success.  The  effect  of  these  proceedings  can 
not  fail  to  be  highly  favorable  to  the  cause  of  emancipation. 

'  Glory  to  them  who  die  in  this  great  cause ! 

Mobs — judges — can  inflict  no  brand  of  shame, 
Or  shape  of  death,  to  shroud  them  from  applause ! 

No !  manglers  of  the  martyr's  earthly  frame, 

Your  hangmen  fingers  cannot  touch  his  fame. 
Still  in  this  guilty  land  there  shall  be  some 

Proud  hearts — the  shrine  of  Freedom's  vestal  flame; 
Long  trains  of  ill  may  pass  unheeded  —  dumb  — 
But  Vengeance  is  behind,  and  Justice  is  to  come!'" 

A  month  later,  as  promised,  Mr.  Garrison  printed  the 
ground  of  his  offence  against  his  countrymen,  accom 
panying  it  with  this  explanation  : 

"  The  Liberator  of  this  morning  embodies  all  the  slanders 
which  I  uttered  in  England  against  the  American  Colonization 
Society  and  the  United  States.  The  speeches  which  were 
delivered  at  the  great  meeting  held  in  Exeter  Hall,  and  which 
have  caused  so  much  excitement  among  the  colonization  crusa 
ders  and  their  backers  the  mobocracy,  were  all  taken  down  by 
a  skilful  and  accomplished  reporter,  expressly  for  publication 
in  this  country.  So  far  from  being  ashamed  of  my  language 
on  that  memorable  occasion,  I  gave  eighty  dollars  for  a  full 
report  of  all  that  was  then  uttered  by  myself  and  others,  in 
order  that  I  might  faithfully  present  it  to  the  public  on  my 
return.  I  wish  neither  to  modify  nor  retract  a  single  sentence. 
The  other  speeches  will  follow  in  due  course.  To  that  fearless 
and  eloquent  champion  of  liberty,  that  first  of  Irish  patriots, 
Daniel  O'Connell,  Esq.,  the  colored  population  of  this  coun- 


l  See,  more  specifically,  Lib.  4 : 27. 


^ET.  28.]  AMERICAN   ANTI- SLAVERY  SOCIETY.  389 

try  and  their  advocates  are  under  heavy  obligations  for  his   CHAP.  XII. 
masterly  vindication  of  their  cause,  his  terrible  castigation  of        x~ 
American  slavery,  and  his  withering  satire  upon  the  coloniza 
tion  l  humbug,'  at  this  meeting. 

"  Now  let  the  enemies  of  freedom  foam  and  rage  ! —  But  the 
secret  of  their  malice  lies  in  the  triumphant  success  of  my  mis 
sion.  Had  I  failed  to  vanquish  the  agent  of  the  American  Coloni 
zation  Society,  or  to  open  the  eyes  of  British  philanthropists  to 
its  naked  deformity,  there  would  have  been  no  excitement  on 
my  return.  These  sensitive  republicans  who  are  so  jealous  of 
the  reputation  of  their  country,  be  it  remembered,  are  the  most 
sturdy  upholders  of  the  slave  system,  and  the  most  ardent 
sticklers  for  the  banishment  of  our  free  colored  population  to 
the  African  coast.1  They  esteem  it  no  disgrace  to  debase, 
lacerate,  plunder  and  kidnap  two  millions  of  slaves,  and  tread 
upon  the  necks  of  half  a  million  free  colored  citizens ;  but  it  is 
foul  slander,  in  their  impartial  judgment,  to  declare  before  a 
British  audience  that  such  conduct  is  in  the  highest  degree 
hypocritical  and  tyrannical.  But  their  iniquity  is  not  done  in 
a  corner,  nor  can  it  be  hid  under  a  bushel;  and  I  tell  them  that 
I  will  hold  them  up  to  the  scorn  and  indignation  of  the  world— 
I  will  stamp  the  brand  of  infamy  upon  their  brow,  which,  like 
the  mark  of  Cain,  shall  make  them  known  and  detested  by  the 
friends  of  freedom  and  humanity  in  every  country  and  in  every 
clime.  t  Where  there  is  shame,  there  may  in  time  be  virtue.' 
I  have  already  crimsoned  their  cheeks  with  the  bitter  con 
sciousness  of  their  guilt  j  and  through  their  shame  I  will  never 
despair  of  seeing  them  brought  to  repentance.  It  is  idle  for 
them  to  bluster  and  threaten — they  will  find  out,  by  and  by, 
that  I  am  storm-proof. 

"  If  I  had  outraged  common  sense  and  common  decency,  by 
throwing  all  the  guilt  of  our  oppression  upon  the  British  Gov 
ernment  ;  if  I  had  dealt  in  the  wretched  cant  that  slavery  was 
an  evil  entailed  upon  us  by  the  mother  country ;  if  I  had  been 
as  dishonest,  as  hypocritical,  and  as  pusillanimous  as  the  agent 

1  The  same  phenomenon  has  been  observed  in  Brazil.  "  O  trabalho  todo 
dos  esclavagistas  consistiu  sempre  em  identiflcar  o  Brazil  com  a  escravidao. 
Quern  a  ataca  6  logo  suspeito  de  connivencia  com  o  estrangeiro,  de  inimigo 
das  instituicoes  do  seu  proprio  paiz.  .  .  .  Atacar  a  Monarchia,  sendo  o 
paiz  monarchico,  a  religiao,  sendo  o  paiz  Catholico,  e"  licito  a  todos ;  atacar, 
porem,  a  escravidao,  6  traicao  nacional  e  felonia  "  ( Joaquim  Nabuco,  '  O 
Abolicionismo,'  p.  192 ;  and  see  pp.  248,  249).  Such  an  identification  of 
slavery  with  the  whole  people  was,  in  the  mouths  of  Northerners,  to  stultify 
their  inquiry,  What  have  we  to  do  with  slavery  ? 


390  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON.  [^T.  28. 

CHAP.  XII.  of  the  American  Colonization  Society ;  if  I  had  extolled  that 
~  kind  of  philanthropy  which  calls  for  the  banishment  of  every 
man,  woman  and  child  whose  skin  is  *  not  colored  like  my  own ' ; 
if  I  had  asserted  that  the  stealers  of  human  beings  in  the  South 
ern  States  were  kind,  liberal  and  paternal  in  their  treatment  of 
their  victims,  and  anxious  to  abolish  slavery  j  in  short,  if  I  had 
sacrificed  conscience,  honesty  and  truth  upon  the  altar  of 
falsehood  and  prejudice  —  why,  then  the  reputation  of  the 
United  States  would  have  been  pure  and  spotless  in  the  eyes  of 
the  English  nation,  and  I  should  have  received  the  applause, 
instead  of  the  malediction,  of  a  senseless  mob  !  But  I  was 
neither  knave  nor  fool  enough  to  do  any  such  thing.  I  spoke 
the  truth,  in  the  love  of  the  truth — the  whole  truth  and  nothing 
but  the  truth.  I  freely  acknowledged  the  guilt,  the  awful  guilt, 
of  this  boasted  land  of  liberty,  in  holding  one  sixth  part  of  its 
immense  population  in  servile  chains;  and  besought  the  sym 
pathy  of  the  friends  of  bleeding  humanity  in  England,  in  behalf 
of  our  afflicted  slaves.  Nor  did  I  fail  to  tear  the  mask  from  the 
brow  of  the  American  Colonization  Society,  so  that  it  might  be 
feared  and  loathed  as  a  monster  of  cruelty,  violence  and  blood. 
For  this  cause,  '  the  wicked  have  drawn  out  the  sword,  and 
have  bent  their  bow,  to  cast  down  the  poor  and  needy,  and  to 
slay  such  as  be  of  upright  conversation.  Their  sword  shall 
enter  into  their  own  heart,  and  their  bows  shall  be  broken.'  " 

Undeterred  by  the  riotous  demonstrations  which  had 
attended  his  return,  and  in  forgetfulness  or  defiance  of 
his  Canterbury  enemies  who  had  sought  to  prevent  his 
departure  for  England,  Mr.  Garrison,  in  the  fourth  week 

£#.3:171,  in  October,  paid  a  visit  to  Miss  Crandall,  and  saw  her 
school  "  in  the  full  tide  of  successful  experiment."  He 
saw  also  "  the  stone  which  was  thrown  into  the  window 
by  some  unknown  republican  of  Canterbury  —  the  shat 
tered  pane  of  glass  —  the  window-curtain  stained  by  a 
volley  of  rotten  eggs  —  and  last,  not  least,  a  moral  non- 

Andrew  T.  descript,  though  physically  a  human  being,  named  A 

T j »  Tnence  repairing  to  Brooklyn,  the  real 

Mecca  of  his  journey,  he  was  most  hospitably  received 
by  the  venerable  George  Benson,  under  whose  roof,  on 
the  27th  of  October,  occurred  an  incident  thus  reported 
in  the  next  issue  of  the  Liberator  .• 


JET.  28.]  AMERICAN   ANTI-SLAVERY   SOCIETY.  391 

"  ACKNOWLEDGMENT.—  Just  before   midnight,  on   Sabbath    Lib.  3:175- 
evening  last,  in  Brooklyn,  Connecticut,  the  Deputy  Sheriff  of 
Windham  County,  in  behalf  of  those  zealous  patrons  of  col 
ored  schools,  those  plain,  independent  republicans,  those  high- 
minded  patriots,  those  practical  Christians, 

ANDREW  T.  JUDSON, 

RUFUS  ADAMS, 

SOLOMON   PAINE, 

CAPT.   RICHARD  FENNER, 

DOCTOR   HARRIS, 

presented  me  with  five  indictments  for  a  panegyric  upon  their 
virtuous  and  magnanimous  actions,  in  relation  to  Miss  Cran- 
dall's  nigger  school  in  Canterbury,  inserted  in  the  Liberator  of 
March  16,  1833.  I  shall  readily  comply  with  their  polite  and 
urgent  invitation  to  appear  at  the  Windham  County  Court  on 
the  second  Tuesday  of  December,  to  show  cause  why,  &c.,  &c. 
As  they  have  generously  given  me  precept  upon  precept,  I 
shall  give  them  in  return  line  upon  line —  here  (in  the  Liberator) 
a  little,  and  there  (in  the  court  room)  a  great  deal." 

These  suits  were  never  brought  to  trial.  They  were  Lib. 3:203; 
continued,  at  Mr.  Garrison's  request,  to  the  March  term 
of  the  county  court  (1834),  and  were  again  postponed  to 
the  fourth  Tuesday  in  January,  1835,  previous  to  which 
date  the  following  proposal  was  addressed  Ipy  the  cashier 
of  the  Windham  County  Bank  to  Mr.  Benson  : 

DEC.  27,  1834.         MS.  Geo. 

Benson  to 

DEAR  SIR  :  I  am  requested  to  say  to  you  that  the  five  w.  L,  G. 
suits  against  Mr.  Garrison  can  be  withdrawn  upon  condition 
that  neither  party  shall  receive  cost  of  the  other  ;  provided  Mr. 
Garrison  answers  to  the  proposition  by  the  10th  of  January.  I 
am  also  requested  to  ask  whether  you  will  communicate  this  to 
Mr.  Garrison  and  receive  his  answer,  which  may  be  communi 
cated  to  the  plaintiffs. 

Yours  respectfully, 

ADAMS  WHITE. 

The  proposition  was   accepted  by   the  defendant  in 
accordance  with  the  pithy  advice  of  Mr.  Benson  —  "  You 


392  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON.  [^T.  28. 


CHAP.  xii.  know  that  the  result   of   a  lawsuit   (however  just)   is 
1833.       verv  uncertain,  but  the  expense  is  certain  "  —  and  of  his 
counsel.1 

A  year  so  crowded  with  incidents,  so  full  of  dra 
matic  scene-shifting,  so  devoid  of  rest  (except  that  which 
comes  from  change)  for  the  subject  of  this  biography, 
had  still  in  reserve  a  climax  of  action.  The  same  issue 

Lib.  3  :  159.  of  the  Liberator  which  reported  Mr.  Garrison's  arrival  in 
New  York  gave  notice  that  a  convention  for  carrying 
out  his  darling  project,  the  formation  of  an  American 
Anti-Slavery  Society,  would  be  held  that  season  in  Phila 
delphia.  The  call,  by  concurrent  resolution  of  the  friends 
of  immediate  emancipation  in  the  cities  of  Boston,  Provi 
dence,  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  was  actually  issued 
October  29,  1833,  for  the  fourth  day  of  December,  and 
was  signed  by  Arthur  Tappan,  President,  Joshua  Leavitt, 
one  of  the  Managers,  and  Elizur  Wright,  Jr.,  Secretary, 
of  the  New  York  City  Anti-Slavery  Society.  Delegates 
were  requested  to  report  to  Evan  Lewis,  No.  94  North 
Fifth  St.,  Philadelphia,  and  to  regard  the  call  as  confi 
dential,  in  order  to  avoid  interruption  in  the  meetings. 

l  John  Parish,  Esq.  A  special  interest  attaches  to  the  following  extract 
'  from  a  letter  addressed  by  William  Goodell  to  Mr.  Garrison  under  date  of 
New  York,  Nov.  14,  1833  :  "I  have  this  moment  received  a  letter  from  my 
brother-in-law,  Eoswell  C.  Smith,  of  Hampton,  Conn,  (the  well-known 
author  of  an  'Arithmetic,'  a  '  Grammar,'  etc.,  published  by  booksellers  in 
Boston),  who  is  a  warm  friend  of  Miss  Crandall's  School  and  of  the  Anti- 
Slavery  Cause.  He  writes  to  suggest  that  it  would  be,  in  his  opinion,  of 
service  to  you  and  the  Cause  to  employ  a  lawyer  well  acquainted  in  the 
neighborhood  and  zealously  attached  to  the  Cause.  Such  a  person  he  con 
siders  Lafayette  Foster,  Esq.,  a  young  attorney,  just  settled  in  Hampton, 
and  well  known  in  all  that  region.  (Hampton,  you  know,  adjoins  Brooklyn 
on  the  West.  )  Mr.  Foster,  he  says,  has  already  distinguished  himself  by 
the  acumen  and  logic  with  which  he  has,  on  several  occasions,  in  conversa 
tion,  etc.,  exposed  the  fallacy  of  Judge  Daggett's  reasoning  in  the  late 
decision,  to  the  conviction  and  conversion  of  some  intelligent  men  who  liad 
been  satisfied  with  the  logic  of  the  Judge.  I  have  myself  known  something 
of  Foster  as  a  young  man  of  an  uncommon  promise,  and  a  staunch  advocate 
of  Temperance.  Mr.  Smith  says  that,  whoever  else  you  may  have  employed, 
he  thinks  it  would  be  well  to  employ  Foster  in  addition,  and  he  is  so  ardent 
in  the  Cause  that  he  would  be  glad  to  do  all  in  his  power,  if  he  never  received 
a  cent  in  compensation."  Mr.  Foster,  a  descendant  of  Miles  Standish,  was 
the  future  Senator  and  Acting  Vice-President  of  the  United  States. 


^ET.  28.]  AMEKICAN  ANTI-SLAVEKY  SOCIETY.  393 

So  the  summons  went  out  to  every  part  of  the  North.  To  CHAP.  xn. 
George  W.  Benson,  at  Providence,  Mr.  Garrison  wrote :          l8~J3 

W.  L.  Garrison  to  George  W.  Benson. 

BOSTON,  November  2,  1833.  MS. 

Here  is  the  warrant  for  our  national  meeting.  Show  it 
among  the  genuine  friends  of  our  cause  as  extensively  as  possi 
ble,  and  urge  them  to  be  fully  represented  in  the  Convention. 

My  mind  is  crowded  with  pleasing  remembrances  of  my  late 
visit  to  Canterbury  and  Brooklyn.  How  deeply  am  I  indebted 
to  you,  to  your  brother,  and  all  the  members  of  your  venerable 
father's  household  !  And  above  all,  how  infinite  are  my  obli 
gations  to  that  Almighty  Being  who  has  given  me  such  dear 
friends,  whose  shield  has  protected  me  from  the  arrows  of  my 
bitter  persecutors,  and  whose  arm  is  made  bare  for  my  deliver 
ance  !  Truly,  "  blessed  is  he  that  considereth  the  poor :  the 
Lord  will  deliver  him  in  time  of  trouble." 

I  am  more  and  more  impressed  with  the  importance  of  "  work 
ing  whilst  the  day  lasts."  If  "we  all  do  fade  as  a  leaf" — if 
we  are  "as  the  sparks  that  fly  upwards"  —  if  the  billows  of 
time  are  swiftly  removing  the  sandy  foundation  of  our  life  — 
what  we  intend  to  do  for  the  captive,  and  for  our  country,  and 
for  the  subjugation  of  a  hostile  world,  must  be  done  quickly. 
Happily,  "  our  light  afflictions  are  but  for  a  moment." 

Show  a  bold  front  at  the  annual  meeting  of  your  Society.  I 
shall  be  with  you  in  spirit,  though  not  bodily. 

Among  your  numerous  friends,  remember  there  is  none  more 
attached  to  you  than 

WM.  LLOYD  GARRISON. 

In  another  direction  he  sped  the  call  to  Whittier,  on 
his  farm  at  Haverhill,  who  answered  doubtfully,  but 
eagerly,  November  11 : 

John  G.  Whittier  to  W.  L.  Garrison. 

Thy  letter  of  the  5th  has  been  received.     .     .     .  MS. 

I  long  to  go  to  Philadelphia,  to  urge  upon  the  members  of 
my  Religious  Society  the  duty  of  putting  their  shoulders  to  the 
work  —  to  make  their  solemn  testimony  against  Slavery  visible 
over  the  whole  land  —  to  urge  them,  by  the  holy  memories  of 
Woolman  and  Benezet  and  Tyson,  to  come  up  as  of  old  to  the 
standard  of  Divine  Truth,  though  even  the  fires  of  another  per- 


394  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON.  [^T.  28. 

CHAP.  XII.  seeution  should  blaze  around  them.  But  the  expenses  of  the 
journey  will,  I  fear,  be  too  much  for  me :  as  thee  know,  our 
farming  business  does  not  put  much  cash  in  our  pockets.  I 
am,  however,  greatly  obliged  to  the  Boston  Y.  M.  Association 
for  selecting  me  as  one  of  their  delegates.  I  do  not  know  how 
it  may  be, — but  whether  I  go  or  not,  my  best  wishes  and  my 
warmest  sympathies  are  with  the  friends  of  Emancipation. 

Some  of  my  political  friends  are  opposed  to  my  anti-slavery 
sentiments,  and  perhaps  it  was  in  some  degree  owing  to  this 
that  at  the  late  Convention  for  the  nomination  of  Senators  for 
Essex,  my  nomination  was  lost  by  one  vote.  I  should  have 
rejoiced  to  have  had  an  opportunity  to  cooperate  personally 
with  the  Abolitionists  of  Boston.  .  .  . 

Can  thee  not  find  time  for  a  visit  to  Haverhill  before  thee  go 
on  to  Philadelphia  ?  I  wish  I  was  certain  of  going  with  thee. 
At  all  events,  do  write  immediately  on  receiving  this,  and  tell 
me  when  thee  shall  start  for  the  Quaker  City. 

Slenderer  purses  than  Whittier's  were  those  of  some  of 
his  Essex  County  neighbors  bent  on  undertaking  the  same 
pilgrimage.  Mr.  Garrison  again  wrote  to  Mr.  Benson, 
under  date  of  November  25,  1833 : 

W.  L.  Garrison  to  George  W.  Benson. 

MS.  Do  you  wish  to  take  by  the  hand  as  courageous,  as  devoted, 

as  uncompromising  an  abolitionist  (not  excepting  ourselves)  as 
lives  in  our  despotic  land  ?  Then  give  a  hearty  welcome  to  the 
bearer  of  this — David  T.  Kimball  of  the  Andover  Theological 
Seminary,  and  President  of  the  Anti- Slavery  Society  in  that 
hot-bed  of  Colonization.  His  father  is  a  clergyman  residing  in 
Ipswich,  and  as  zealously  affected  in  our  cause  as  himself.  He 
is  accompanied  by  another  worthy  abolitionist,  named  Jewett,1 
also  a  student  at  Andover.  Now  to  illustrate  their  readiness 
to  make  sacrifices  in  our  most  holy  cause,  I  need  only  to  state 
that,  as  their  means  are  very  limited,  they  have  resolved  to  go 
on  foot,  say  as  far  as  New  Haven,  in  order  that  they  may  thus 
be  enabled  to  get  to  the  Convention  in  Philadelphia!  This 

l  Daniel  E.  Jewett.  He  had  been  a  fellow-student  of  James  Miller 
McKim,  at  this  time  residing  at  his  home  in  Carlisle,  Pa. ;  and  on  his 
entreaty,  the  latter  attended  the  Convention,  where  he  proved  to  be  the 
youngest  member  (see  pp.  32,  33,  Proceedings  at  Third  Decade  American 
Anti-Slavery  Society). 


.  28.] 


AMERICAN   ANTI- SLA  VERY   SOCIETY. 


395 


morning  they  start  for  Providence  —  from  thence  they  propose    CHAP.  XII. 


going  to  Canterbury  —  and  from  thence  to  New  Haven,  where 
they  will  take  the  steamboat  for  New  York.  They  will  proba 
bly  tarry  one  day  in  Providence,  and  I  dare  presume  that 
between  you  and  brother  Prentice,1  and  the  rest  of  the  dear 
friends,  they  will  be  entertained  without  much  cost  to  themselves. 
I  think  you  cannot  fail  to  be  pleased  with  the  modesty  and 
worth  of  these  good  "  fanatics." 

Probably  you  will  have  scarcely  perused  this  scrawl  ere  I 
shall  constitute  one  in  your  midst.  I  expect  to  take  the  stage 
to-morrow  for  P.,  and  arrive  there  in  the  evening.  Be  good 
enough,  if  you  can  conveniently,  to  call  at  the  City  Hotel,  at  the 
hour  of  7,  and  see  if  the  madman  G.  has  come.  Perhaps  I  may 
not  get  away  from  this  city  till  Wednesday. 

Many  thanks  to  you  and  my  generous  creditor  Henry  for 
your  kind  letters. 

What  news  from  Canterbury  °?  I  long  to  get  there  once 
more  —  but  more  particularly  under  the  hospitable  roof  of 
your  father.  I  confess,  in  addition  to  the  other  delightful 
attractions  which  are  there  found,  the  soft  blue  eyes  and 
pleasant  countenance  of  Miss  Ellen  are  by  no  means  impotent 
or  unattractive.  But  this  is  episodical. 

The  Young  Men's  Anti- Slavery  Association  of  Boston  are 
driving  ahead  with  even  a  better  spirit  than  that  of  '76.  They 
have  now  upwards  of  90  members!  Their  example  cannot 
be  lost. 

I  trust  our  Boston  delegation  to  the  Convention  will  not  be 
less  than  eight.2  Whether  we  shall  get  any  from  the  State  of 
Maine  is  uncertain.  .  .  . 

At  the  City  Hotel  Mr.  Benson  found  not  only  his  cor 
respondent  but  the  Quaker  poet,  for  Whittier  (thanks  to 
the  generosity  of  S.  E.  Sewall)  had  been  enabled  to  join 
his  old  friend  in  Boston.  These  three,  with  John  Pren 
tice  and  what  others  we  know  not,  together  made  their 
journey  to  New  York,  where  they  were  joined  by  David 
Thurston,  a  Congregational  minister  from  Maine,  Samuel 
J.  May,  and  a  considerable  number  of  delegates,  who 

1  John  Prentice.     He,  with  Mr.  Benson  and  Ray  Potter  (of  Pawtucket), 
constituted  the  Rhode  Island  delegation  at  the  Convention. 

2  It  was  in  fact  six,  viz. :   Mr.  Garrison,  Joshua  Coffin,  Amos  A.  Phelps, 
Jaines  G.  Barbadoes,  Nathaniel  Southard,  and  Arnold  Buffuni. 


1833- 


Providence, 
R.  I. 


H.  E.  Ben 
son. 


Helen  Eli: 
Benson. 


Atlantic 

Monthly, 

Feb.,  1874, 

p.  166. 


May  s  Rec 
ollections, 
p.  81. 


396  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GARKISON.  (yE-r.  28. 

CHAP.  xii.  made  each  other's  acquaintance  for  the  first  time.  Mr. 
1833.  May,  who  "  studied  anxiously  their  countenances  and 
bearing,  and  caught  most  thirstily  every  word  that 
dropped  from  their  lips/'  and  satisfied  himself  that 
"  most  of  them  were  men  ready  to  die,  if  need  be,  in  the 
pass  of  Thermopylae,"  has  recorded  an  episode  of  the 
journey  (by  steamboat  from  New  York  to  Elizabeth- 
town,  and  again  from  Bordentown  to  Philadelphia) : 

Mays  Rec-        "  There  was  much  earnest  talking  by  other  parties  beside  our 
°^l°Second    own'   Presently  a  gentleman  turned  from  one  of  them  to  me  and 
Decade  Pro-   said,  '  What,  sir,  are  the  Abolitionists  going  to  do  in  Philadel- 
CeCp.  2P'      phia  ? '     I  informed  him  that  we  intended  to  form  a  National 
Anti- Slavery  Society.     This  brought  from  him  an  outpouring 
of  the  commonplace  objections  to  our  enterprise,  which  I  re 
plied  to  as  well  as  I  was  able.     Mr.  Garrison  drew  near,  and  I 
soon  shifted  my  part  of  the  discussion  into  his  hands,  and 
listened  with  delight  to  the  admirable  manner  in  which  he 
expounded  and  maintained  the  doctrines  and  purposes  of  those 
who  believed  with  him  that  the  slaves — the  blackest  of  them — 
were  men,  entitled  as  much  as  the  whitest  and  most  exalted 
men  in  the  land  to  their  liberty,  to  a  residence  here,  if  they 
choose,  and  to  acquire  as  much  wisdom,  as  much  property,  and 
as  high  a  position  as  they  may. 

"After  a  long  conversation,  which  attracted  as  many  as 
could  get  within  hearing,  the  gentleman  said,  courteously :  1 1 
have  been  much  interested,  sir,  in  what  you  have  said,  and  in 
the  exceedingly  frank  and  temperate  manner  in  which  you 
have  treated  the  subject.  If  all  Abolitionists  were  like  you, 
there  would  be  much  less  opposition  to  your  enterprise.  But, 
sir,  depend  upon  it,  that  hair-brained,  reckless,  violent  fanatic, 
Garrison,  will  damage,  if  he  does  not  shipwreck,  any  cause.' 
Stepping  forward,  I  replied,  '  Allow  me,  sir,  to  introduce  you 
to  Mr.  Garrison,  of  whom  you  entertain  so  bad  an  opinion. 
The  gentleman  you  have  been  talking  with  is  he.'  " 

The  little  company  reached  Philadelphia  in  the  morn 
ing  of  December  3,  and  found  the  city  sufficiently  ex- 
Mav'sRec-    c^e<l  by  the  cause  of  their  coming  to  justify  all  the 
Elections,  p.  precautions   already  taken,   and   (on   a  hint   from   the 

82;  Second 

Decade  Pro-  police  that  they  could  not  protect  evening  meetings)  to 
"p.  aSf '     make  day  sessions  advisable.    They  gathered  informally, 


-ET.  28.]  AMEKICAN   ANTI-SLAVEKY   SOCIETY.  397 

however,  some  forty  of  them,  that  evening  in  the  parlors      Atlantic 

of  Evan  Lewis,1  when  Lewis  Tappan  was  called  to  the    pel.,  1874, 

chair.     Their  chief  concern  was  for  a  presiding  officer      *•  l6?- 

for  the  Convention  —  preferably  a  Philadelphian  whose 

character  should  propitiate  public   sentiment  and   be, 

says  Mr.  May,  "  a  voucher  for  our  harmlessness."   Robert     Recoiiec- 

Vaux,  a  prominent  and  wealthy  Quaker,  seemed,  apart 

from  his  relations  with  Elliott  Cresson,  to  fulfil  these  Ante,  p.  363. 

conditions,  and  a  committee  consisting  of  three  Friends 

(Evan  Lewis,  John  G.  Whittier,  and  Effingham  L.  Capron, 

of  Uxbridge,  Mass.),  two  clergymen  (Beriah  Green  and 

S.  J.  May),  and  Lewis  Tappan,  was  appointed  to  wait 

immediately  upon  him  and  upon  one  other  forlorn  hope. 

In  both  places    they  were    received    with    mortifying 

frigidity  and  politely  bowed  out,  and  bedtime  found 

them  forced  back  on  Beriah  Green's  sarcastic  conclusion    May's  Rec- 

—  "  If  there  is  not  timber  amongst  ourselves  big  enough  ^3-  Second 


to  make  a  president  of,  let  us  get  along  without  one,  or 

go  home  and  stay  there  until  we  have  grown  up  to  be       P-  29- 

men." 

Between  fifty  and  sixty  delegates,2  representing  ten  of 
the  twelve  free  States,  made  their  way  the  next  morning  December  4, 
to  Adelphi  Hall,  on  Fifth  Street  below  Walnut,  greeted 
with  abusive  language  as  they  went  along,  and  finding 
the  entrance  to  the  building  guarded  by  the  police.  The 
doors  were  locked  upon  an  assembly,  as  Whittier  no 
ticed,  "mainly  composed  of  comparatively  young  men, 
some  in  middle  age,  and  a  few  beyond  that  period." 
Five-sevenths  of  them  were  destined  to  survive  Presi 
dent  Lincoln's  emancipation  proclamation.3  The  Quaker 
element  was  naturally  prominent.  Besides  those  already 
mentioned,  Maine  sent  Joseph  Southwick,  and  Nathan 

1  "  A  man  who  was  afraid  of  nothing  but  doing  or  being  wrong"  (May's 
'Recollections,'  p.  82). 

2  May  says  56  (p.  84)  ;  Whittier,  62  (p.  167,  Atlantic  Monthly,  Feb.,  1874). 
The  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Sentiments  were  63.     There  were  but 
two  or  three  colored  members. 

3  At  this  writing  (May,   1885),  Elizur  Wright,  Jr.,  J.  G.  Whittier,  and 
Robert  Purvis  alone  survive. 


398  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAKBISON.  [JET.  28. 

CHAP.  xii.  and  Isaac  Winslow  ;  Massachusetts,  Arnold  Buffum  and 
18^3.  Effingham  L.  Capron;1  Pennsylvania,  Thomas  Shipley, 
the  intrepid  foe  of  slaveholders  and  kidnappers,  Edwin 
P.  Atlee,  whose  end,  like  Shipley's  and  Evan  Lewis's, 
was  lamentably  near  at  hand,  Thomas  Whitson,  James 
Mott,  Bartholomew  Fussell,  and  other  less  known 
(Hicksite)  Friends.  But  the  variety  of  character  and 
talent  gathered  together  in  that  upper  story  would  not 
be  comprehended  if  allusion  were  not  also  made  to 
Joshua  Coffin,  Orson  S.  Murray,  Ray  Potter,  Simeon  S. 
Jocelyn,  Robert  B.  Hall,  Amos  A.  Phelps,  John  Rankin,2 
William  Green,  Jr.,  Abraham  L.  Cox,  William  Goodell, 
Elizur  Wright,  Jr.,  George  Bourne,  Charles  W.  Denison, 
Robert  Purvis,  and  James  Miller  McKim.  On  the  second 
day,  too,  a  handful  of  women,  all  members  of  the  Society 
of  Friends — Lucre tia  Mott,  Esther  Moore,  Lydia  White, 
and  Sidney  Ann  Lewis — were,  on  Thomas  Whitson's 
invitation,  in  attendance,  and,  both  by  their  presence 
and  their  share  in  the  deliberations,  made  the  occasion 
still  more  epochal.  A  more  original,  devoted,  philan 
thropic  and  religious  body  was  never  convened,  or  for  a 
more  unselfish  purpose,  or  amid  greater  public  contempt 
and  odium.  Its  sittings  were,  while  guarded,  open  to  its 

Lib. 3: 203.  avowed  and  bitter  enemies.  "No  person  was  refused 
admittance  to  the  Convention :  on  the  contrary,  Messrs. 
Gurley  and  Finley  [General  Agent  of  the  Colonization 
Society],  a  large  number  of  Southern  medical  students, 
several  ladies,  and,  in  fact,  all  who  came  as  spectators, 
were  politely  and  cordially  furnished  with  seats." 

1  "  Effingham  L.  Capron  was  a  Friend,  of  the  straitest  kind.     At  first  lie 
u                     was  no  abolitionist,  and  was  very  much  prejudiced  against  William  Lloyd 

Garrison.  Persuaded  by  my  father  [Arnold  Buffum],  he  took  the  Liberator, 
and  concluded  that  slavery  was  wrong.  He  went  to  the  Liberator  office,  and 
talked  with  thy  father  without  knowing  him ;  and  when  he  learned  that 
the  man  so  gentle  and  peaceful  was  the  man  he  had  supposed  a  monster,  he 
wept"  (Mrs.  Elizabeth  Buffum  Chace  to  F.  J.  G.,  MS.  August,  1881).  This 
story  is  told,  anonymously,  in  the  fifth  of  Angelina  Grimk^'s  Letters  to 
Catherine  Beecher  (Lib.  7  : 123). 

2  A  wealthy  and  liberal  New  York  merchant,  subsequently  Treasurer  of 
the  American  Anti-Slavery  Society.    Not  to  be  confounded  with  the  author 
of  '  Rankin's  Letters'  (see  '  Life  of  Arthur  Tappan,'  p.  244). 


JET.  28.]  AMEKICAN   ANTI- SLA  VERY   SOCIETY.  399 

On  the  first  day,  the  meeting  was  opened  with  prayer,  CHAP.  xn. 
and  "timber"  of  the  right  sort  for  president  was  found  ^3, 
in  Beriah  Green  himself ;  Lewis  Tappan  and  Whittier 
being  chosen  secretaries.1  Membership  was  accorded  to 
all  delegates  of  anti-slavery  societies,  and  to  all  persons 
present  who  favored  immediate  emancipation  and  opposed 
expatriation.  Organization,  and  the  reading  of  letters  of 
sympathy  from  William  Jay,  Jeremiah  Chaplin,  George 
Duffield,  Theodore  D.  Weld,  and  others,  consumed  the 
time  of  the  session,  which,  for  prudential  reasons,  was 
not  interrupted  for  the  noonday  meal.  Foraging  for 
crackers  and  cheese  was  conducted  by  Joshua  Coffin, 
and  pitchers  of  cold  water  supplied  the  only  beverage. 
Mr.  Garrison  was  put  on  the  committee  to  report  a  con 
stitution  (from  which  he  was  evidently  excused),  as  well 
as  on  the  larger  committee2  to  draft  a  Declaration  of 
Principles  for  signature  by  members  of  the  Convention. 
Adjournment  took  place  at  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 
and  the  latter  committee  met  shortly  afterwards  at  the 
house  of  its  chairman,  Dr.  Atlee,  where,  after  a  comparison  May's  Rec- 
of  views,  Mr.  Garrison,  Mr.  Whittier  and  Mr.  May  were  ° 
appointed  a  sub-committee  of  three  to  prepare  a  draft  of 
the  Declaration  "  to  be  reported  next  morning,  at  nine  § 
o'clock,  to  the  whole  committee,  in  the  room  adjoining 
the  hall  of  the  Convention."  They  accordingly  withdrew 
to  the  house  of  a  fellow-delegate,  James  McCrummell, 
the  colored  host  of  Mr.  Garrison,  and  there  it  was  finally 

1  "The  choice  fell  upon  Beriah  Green.     A  better  man  could  not  have 
been  selected.     Though  of  plain  exterior  and  unimposing  presence,  Mr. 
Green  was  a  man  of  learning  and  superior  ability ;  in  every  way  above  the 
average  of  so-called  men  of  eminence.     Mr.  Tappan,  who  sat  at  his  right, 
was  a  jaunty,  man-of-the-world-looking  person,  well-dressed  and  handsome, 
with  a  fine  voice  and  taking  appearance.    Whittier,  who  sat  at  his  left,  was 
quite  as  fine-looking,  though  in  a  different  way.     He  wore  a  dark  frock  coat 
with  standing  collar,  which,  with  his  thin  hair,  dark  and  sometimes  flash 
ing  eyes,  and  black  whiskers,  —  not  large,  but  noticeable  in  those  unhirsute 
days,  —  gave  him,  to  my  then  unpractised  eye,  quite  as  much  of  a  military 
as  a  Quaker  aspect "  (J.  M.  McKim,  Proceedings  at  Third  Decade,  p.  37). 

2  Consisting  of  Messrs.  Atlee,  Wright,  Garrison,  Jocelyn,  Thurston,  Ster 
ling  (of  Cleveland,  O.),  Wm.  Green,  Jr.  (of  N.  Y.),  Whittier,  Goodell,  and 
May. 


400 


WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAKEISON. 


.  28. 


CHAP.  xii.   agreed  that  the  composition  of  the  document  should  be 
1833.        given  to  him  who  had  called  the  Convention  into  being. 

Rfcollec-  "  We  left  him,"  says  Mr.  May,  "  about  ten  o'clock,  agreeing 
to  come  to  him  again  next  morning  at  eight.  On  our  return  at 
the  appointed  hour,  we  found  him,  with  shutters  closed  and 
lamps  burning,  just  writing  the  last  paragraph  of  his  admirable 
draft.  We  read  it  over  together  two  or  three  times  very  carefully, 
agreed  to  a  few  slight  alterations,  and  at  nine  went  to  lay  it 
before  the  whole  committee.  By  them  it  was  subjected  to  the 
severest  examination.  Nearly  three  hours  of  intense  applica 
tion  were  given  to  it,  notwithstanding  repeated  and  urgent 
calls  from  the  Convention  for  our  report.  All  the  while,  Mr. 
Garrison  evinced  the  most  unruffled  patience.  Very  few  alter 
ations  were  proposed,  and  only  once  did  he  offer  any  resistance. 
He  had  introduced  into  his  draft  more  than  a  page  in  condem 
nation  of  the  Colonization  scheme.  It  was  the  concentrated 
essence  of  all  he  had  written  or  thought  upon  that  egregious 
imposition.  It  was  as  finished  and  powerful  in  expression  as 
any  part  of  that  Magna  Charta.  We  commented  upon  it  as  a 
whole  and  in  all  its  parts.  We  writhed  somewhat  under  its 
severity,  but  were  obliged  to  acknowledge  its  exact,  its  singular 
justice,  and  were  about  to  accept  it,  when  I  ventured  to  pro 
pose  that  all  of  it,  excepting  only  the  first  comprehensive  para 
graph,  be  stricken  from  the  document,  giving  as  my  reason  for 
this  large  erasure  that  the  Colonization  Society  could  not  long 
survive  the  deadly  blows  it  had  received ;  and  it  was  not  worth 
while  for  us  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  it  in  this  Declaration 
of  the  Rights  of  Man,  which  will  live  a  perpetual,  impressive 
protest  against  every  form  of  oppression,  until  it  shall  have 
given  place  to  that  brotherly  kindness  which  all  the  children  of 
the  common  Father  owe  to  one  another.  At  first,  Mr.  Garrison 
rose  up  to  save  a  portion  of  his  work  that  had  doubtless  cost 
him  as  much  mental  effort  as  any  other  part  of  it.  But  so  soon 
as  he  found  that  a  large  majority  of  the  committee  concurred 
in  favor  of  the  erasure,  he  submitted  very  graciously,  saying, 
'  Brethren,  it  is  your  report,  not  mine.' 

"  With  this  exception,  the  alterations  and  amendments  which 
were  made,  after  all  our  criticisms,  were  surprisingly  few  and 
unessential ;  and  we  cordially  agreed  to  report  it  to  the  Con 
vention  very  much  as  it  came  from  his  pen." 

Lib.  3 : 202.        All  this  time  the  Convention  was  speeding  the  hours  as 
best  it  might  with  speeches  and  resolves.     After  an  open- 


J3T.  28.]  AMEKICAN   ANTI-SLAVEKY   SOCIETY.  401 

ing  prayer  by  William  Green,  Jr.,  Dr.  Cox  read  aloud  CHAP.  XH. 
these  lines  addressed  to  Mr.  Garrison  by  Whittier,  and        ^3, 
first  published  in  the  Haverhill  Gazette  early  in  1833, 
though  composed  during  the  previous  year: 


TO    W.    L.    G.  Writings  of 

W.  L.G., 

p.  x. 
Champion  of  those  who  groan  beneath 

Oppression's  iron  hand : 
In  view  of  penury,  hate,  and  death 

I  see  thee  fearless  stand, 
Still  bearing  up  thy  lofty  brow 

In  the  steadfast  strength  of  truth, 
In  manhood  sealing  well  the  vow 
And  promise  of  thy  youth. 

Go  on,  —  for  thou  hast  chosen  well; 

On  in  the  strength  of  God! 
Long  as  one  human  heart  shall  swell 

Beneath  the  tyrant's  rod. 
Speak  in  a  slumbering  nation's  ear 

As  thou  hast  ever  spoken, 
Until  the  dead  in  sin  shall  hear, — 

The  fetter's  link  be  broken! 

I  love  thee  with  a  brother's  love, 

I  feel  my  pulses  thrill 
To  mark  thy  spirit  soar  above 

The  cloud  of  human  ill. 
My  heart  hath  leaped  to  answer  thine, 

And  echo  back  thy  words, 
As  leaps  the  warrior's  at  the  shine 

And  flash  of  kindred  swords! 

They  tell  me  thou  art  rash  and  vain — 

A  searcher  after  fame; 
That  thou  art  striving  but  to  gain 
,       A  long-enduring  name; 

That  thou  hast  nerved  the  Afric's  hand, 

And  steeled  the  Afric's  heart, 
To  shake  aloft  his  vengeful  brand 

And  rend  his  chain  apart. 
VOL.  L— 26 


402  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON.  [^ET.  28. 

CHAP.  XII.  Have  I  not  known  thee  well,  and  read 

~  Thy  mighty  purpose  long1? 

And  watched  the  trials  which  have  made 

Thy  human  spirit  strong? 
And  shall  the  slanderer's  demon  breath 

Avail  with  one  like  me, 
To  dim  the  sunshine  of  my  faith 
And  earnest  trust  in  thee  ? 

Go  on, — the  dagger's  point  may  glare 

Amid  thy  pathway's  gloom, — 
The  fate  which  sternly  threatens  there 

Is  glorious  martyrdom! 
Then  onward  with  a  martyr's  zeal  j 

And  wait  thy  sure  reward 
When  man  to  man  no  more  shall  kneel, 

And  God  alone  be  Lord ! 

John  Bankin  moved  a  resolution,  seconded  by  Dr. 
Cox,  thanking  editors  who  had  enlisted  in  behalf  of 
immediate  emancipation,  and  pledging  support  of  the 
anti-slavery  press;  upon  which  the  Convention  went 
into  Committee  of  the  Whole.  Beriah  Green  expressed 
his  disgust  with  those  who  assert  that  Wm.  Lloyd  Gar 
rison  "  is  so  imprudent,  and  says  so  many  things  calcu 
lated  to  weaken  his  attacks  on  the  system  of  bondage.77 
Dr.  Cox  followed  with  some  remarks,  and  then  — 

Abolitionist,  "  Lewis  Tappan  rose,  and  asked  permission  to  introduce  the 
monody,  name  of  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  and  proceeded  to  say : 

"  '  Some  men,  Mr.  President,  are  frightened  at  a  name. 
There  is  good  evidence  to  believe  that  many  professed  friends 
of  abolition  would  have  been  here,  had  they  not  been  afraid 
that  the  name  of  William  Lloyd  Garrison  would  be  inserted 
prominently  in  our  proceedings.  Sir,  I  am  ashamed  of  such 
friends.  We  ought  to  place  that  honored  name  in  the  fore 
front  of  our  ranks.  The  cause  is  under  obligations  to  him 
which  such  an  evidence  of  respect  will  but  poorly  repay. 

"  '  The  first  time  I  ever  heard  of  him  was  when  fre  was  in 
jail  in  Baltimore,  where  he  was  incarcerated  like  a  felon,  for 
pleading  the  cause  of  the  oppressed  and  rebuking  iniquity. 
When  I  saw  him,  appearing  so  mild  and  meek  as  he  does, 
shortly  after  he  was  liberated  by  a  gentleman  in  New  York,  I 


^T.  28.]  AMERICAN   ANTI-SLAVERY   SOCIETY.  403 

was  astonished.    Is  this  the  renegade  Garrison?  thought  I,  as   CHAP.  XII. 
I  grasped  his  open  hand.     Is  this  the  enemy  of  our  country  f         I{JT 
I  shall  never  forget  the  impression  which  his  noble  countenance 
made  on  me  at  that  time,  as  long  as  I  live. 

"  t  An  anecdote  is  related  of  a  gentleman — a  Colonizationist 
—which  is  worth  repeating  in  this  Convention.  That  gentle 
man  had  purchased,  without  knowing  whom  it  represented,  a 
portrait  of  Mr.  Garrison,  and,  after  having  it  encased  in  a 
splendid  gilt  frame,  suspended  it  in  his  parlor.  A  friend  call 
ing  in  observed  it,  and  asked  the  purchaser  if  he  knew  whom 
he  had  honored  so  much  ?  He  was  answered,  "  No — but  it  is 
one  of  the  most  godlike-looking  countenances  I  ever  beheld." 
"  That,  sir,"  resumed  the  visitor,  "  is  a  portrait  of  the  fanatic, 
the  incendiary  William  Lloyd  Garrison !  "  "  Indeed  !  "  con 
cluded  the  gentleman,  evidently  much  disconcerted.  "  But, 
sir,  it  shall  remain  in  its  place.  I  will  never  take  it  down." l 

"  *  Who  that  is  familiar  with  the  history  of  Mr.  Garrison  does 
not  remember  the  determination  expressed  in  the  first  number 
of  his  paper — the  Liberator — to  sustain  it  as  long  as  he  could  live 
on  bread  and  ivater?  And,  sir,  I  am  informed  that  he  has 
really  practised  what  he  so  nobly  resolved  on  in  the  beginning. 

"  '  Look  at  his  course  during  his  recent  mission  to  England. 
He  has  been  accused  of  slandering  his  country.  Sir,  he  has 
vindicated  the  American  name.  He  has  not  slandered  it.  He 
has  told  the  whole  truth,  and  put  hypocrites  and  doughfaces  to 
open  shame.  He  has  won  the  confidence  of  the  people  of  Eng 
land.  They  saw  him  attached  to  his  country  by  the  dearest 
ties,  but  loathing  her  follies  and  abhorring  her  crimes.  He 
has  put  the  anti- slavery  movement  forward  a  quarter  of  a 
century. 

"'A  fellow-passenger  with  Mr.  Garrison  from  Europe  — a 
clergyman  of  much  intelligence  —  on  arriving  in  this  country 
heard  that  he  was  called  a  fanatic  and  a  madman.  "  What," 
said  he,  "  do  you  call  such  a  man  a  fanatic  ?  Do  you  deem 
such  a  man  insane  ?  For  six  weeks  have  I  been  with  him,  and 
a  more  discreet,  humble  and  faithful  Christian  I  never  saw." 

"  '  Sir,  we  should  throw  the  shield  of  our  protection  and 
esteem  around  Mr.  Garrison.  His  life  is  exposed  at  this 
moment.  At  the  door  of  this  saloon,  a  young  man  from  the 

l  It  is  uncertain  what  portrait  is  here  alluded  to,  but  it  was  probably 
unpublished.  The  prints  from  the  Jocelyn  and  Brewster  paintings  (ante, 
pp.  342,  344)  both  bore  Mr.  Garrison's  autograph  and  an  unmistakable 
legend,  and  the  former  engraving  was  not  completed  till  the  spring  of  1834. 


404  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON.  [.Ex.  28. 

CHAP.  XII.  South  said  to-day  that  if  he  had  opportunity,  he  would  dip  his 
hand  in  his  heart's  blood.1  And,  sir,  there  must  be  martyrs  in 
this  cause.  We  ought  to  feel  this  moment  that  we  are  liable  to 
be  sacrificed.  But  when  I  say  this,  I  know  that  we  are  not 
belligerents.  We  would  die  in  such  a  cause  only  as  martyrs 
to  the  truth.  In  this,  our  blessed  Saviour  has  set  the  example. 

"  '  I  did  not  contemplate  delivering  a  eulogy  on  Mr.  Garrison 
when  I  rose  to  speak  to  this  resolution.  I  wish  simply  to  ex 
press  my  heartfelt  sympathy  with  an  injured  and  persecuted 
man.  Be  it  the  honorable  object  of  the  members  of  this  Con 
vention  to  show  to  our  countrymen  that  they  have  misunder 
stood  the  character,  and  misconceived  the  plans,  of  William 
Lloyd  Garrison.  He  is  said  to  be  imprudent.  What  is  pru 
dence  ?  Is  it  succumbing  to  a  majority  of  our  frail  fellow- 
mortals  ?  Is  it  holding  back  a  faithful  expression  of  the  whole 
truth,  until  the  people  are  ready  to  say  amen  f  Was  that  the 
prudence  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  when  he  stood  before  the  Roman 
Governor  ?  Was  that  the  prudence  of  William  Penn,  when  he 
poured  contempt  on  the  regalia  of  kings  by  wearing  before  the 
King  of  England  his  broad  beaver?  Imprudence  is  moral 
timidity.  That  man  is  imprudent  who  is  afraid  to  speak  as 
God  commands  him  to  speak,  when  the  hour  of  danger  is  near. 
If  this  reasoning  be  correct,  Mr.  Garrison  is  one  of  the  most 
prudent  men  in  the  nation  ! 

" '  He  is  not  perfect.  He  is  frail,  like  the  rest  of  human 
flesh.  But  if  God  had  not  endowed  him  as  he  has,  and  smiled 
propitiously  on  his  imprudences,  we  should  not  now  be  engaged 
in  the  deliberations  of  this  most  interesting  and  important  Con 
vention.  God  has  raised  up  just  such  a  man  as  William  Lloyd 
Garrison  to  be  a  pioneer  in  this  cause.  Let  each  member 
present  feel  solemnly  bound  to  vindicate  the  character  of  Mr. 
Garrison.  Let  us  not  be  afraid  to  go  forward  with  him,  even 
into  the  "  imminent  breach,"  although  there  may  be  professed 
friends  who  stand  back  because  of  him.' " 

"  Robert  Purvis,*  of  Pennsylvania,  said  he  was  grateful  to 
God  for  the  day.  He  felt  to  pour  out  the  speaking  gratitude 

l  A  ' '  demoniac  son  of  a  slaveholder,  at  the  entrance  of  the  Adelphi 
Hall,  threatened  to  wash  his  hands  "  in  Garrison's  blood.  A  bystander,  of 
the  abolitionists,  said :  "I  will  bare  my  breast  to  receive  any  indignity  you 
may  please  to  offer  to  William  Lloyd  Garrison"  (Lib.  5:7). 

"  *  A  colored  gentleman  of  Philadelphia,  whose  talents  and  gentlemanly 
deportment  have  won  the  esteem  of  all  who  know' him.  We  wish  that 
many  who  we  know  have  unwittingly  circulated  colonization  slanders 
against  the  free  people  of  color,  could  become  acquainted  with  Mr.  P." 


MT.  28.]  AMEKICAN   ANTI-SLAVEKY   SOCIETY.  405 

of  his  soul  to  the  Convention,  for  the  spirit  they  had  mani-    CHAP.  XII. 
fested  during  the  session,  and  especially  during  the  pending  of         x^3 
this  resolution.     He  most  heartily  concurred  in  such  a  vote, 
and  had  no  doubt  but  that  it  would  pass  unanimously.     The 
name  of  William  Lloyd  Garrison  sounded  sweet  to  his  ear.     It 
produced  a  vibration  of  feeling  in  his  bosom,  which  words 
could  but  too  feebly  sound  forth.    It  was  a  feeling  of  love 
and  hearty  confidence,  which  none  but  a  conscientious  aboli 
tionist  could  know. 

"  Three  years  ago  he  had  watched  the  progress  of  Mr.  Gar 
rison  with  extreme  solicitude.  The  nation  was  then  sound 
asleep  on  this  subject.  The  colonization  scheme  —  that  scheme 
of  darkness  and  delusion  —  was  then  making  its  wide  havoc 
among  the  persecuted  people  of  color.  It  was  the  cholera  to 
our  ranks.  But  Garrison  arose.  His  voice  went  up  with  a 
trumpet  tone.  The  walls  of  Baltimore  prison  could  not  confine 
its  thunders.  The  dampness  of  his  cell  did  not  repress  the 
energy  of  his  spirit.  Free  and  unfettered  as  the  air,  his  denun 
ciations  of  tyranny  rolled  over  the  land.  The  Liberator  speedily 
followed.  Its  pages  flashed  light  and  truth  far  and  wide. 
Darkness  and  gloom  fled  before  it.  The  deep,  unbroken, 
tomblike  silence  of  the  church  gave  way.  The  tocsin  of 
righteous  alarm  was  sounded.  The  voice  of  godlike  Liberty 
was  heard  above  the  clamor  of  the  oppressors.  The  effect  of 
these  efforts  is  seen  and  felt  this  moment  in  this  interesting 
Convention.  It  is  indeed  a  good  thing  to  be  here.  My  heart, 
Mr.  President,  is  too  full  for  my  tongue.  But  whether  I  speak 
to  them — my  feelings  as  they  exist  in  my  inmost  soul — or  not, 
the  friends  of  the  colored  American  will  be  remembered.  Yes, 
sir,  their  exertions  and  memories  will  be  cherished  when  pyra 
mids  and  monuments  shall  crumble.  The  flood  of  time,  which 
is  rapidly  sweeping  to  destruction  that  refuge  of  lies,  the  Ame 
rican  Colonization  Society,  is  bearing  on  the  advocates  of  our 
cause  to  a  glorious  and  blessed  immortality."1 

Lewis  Tappan  had  also  his  eulogy  for  Lundy  j  and  a 
special  resolution  of  gratitude  to  the  editor  of  the  Genius 
for  his  early,  disinterested  and  persevering  labors  in  the 

1  These  "defensory  and  encomiastical  speeches"  were  omitted  by  the 
subject  of  them  in  copying  into  the  Liberator  the  Emancipator 's  report  of 
the  Proceedings,  as  "the  panegyric  of  our  friends  is  incomparably  more 
afflicting  to  us  than  the  measureless  defamation  of  our  enemies"  (Lib. 
3:202). 


406 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON. 


.  28. 


CHAP.  XII. 
1833- 


Recollec 
tions,  p.  88. 


J.  M. 

McKim, 

Proceedings 

at  $d  Decade, 

/•35- 


cause  was  passed  on  motion  of  Wm.  Goodell  and  Thomas 
Shipley.  R.  B.  Hall,  C.  W.  Denison,  and  S.  J.  May  were 
appointed  a  committee  to  communicate  the  sentiments  of 
the  Convention  to  both  Lundy  and  Garrison. 

The  hour  had  now  arrived,  —  it  was  past  noon  of 
Thursday,  December  5, — when  the  Committee  on  the 
Declaration  was  ready  to  report.  Dr.  Atlee,  the  chair 
man,  read  the  result  of  their  labors  to  the  Convention. 
"  Never  in  my  life,"  says  Mr.  May,  "  have  I  seen  a  deeper 
impression  made  by  words  than  was  made  by  that  admi 
rable  document  upon  all  who  were  there  present.  After 
the  voice  of  the  reader  had  ceased,  there  was  a  profound 
silence  for  several  minutes.  Our  hearts  were  in  perfect 
unison.  There  was  but  one  thought  with  us  all.  Either 
of  the  members  could  have  told  what  the  whole  Conven 
tion  felt.  We  felt  that  the  word  had  just  been  uttered 
which  would  be  mighty,  through  God,  to  the  pulling 
down  of  the  strongholds  of  slavery." 

An  impulse  to  proceed  at  once  to  the  adoption  of  the 
Declaration  came  from  one  of  the  weightiest  Friends, 
who  feared  that  much  tampering  with  it  would  impair 
its  forcibleness.  But  it  seemed  to  the  Convention  more 
becoming  to  deliberate,  and  haply  to  amend  and  improve 
its  fundamental  utterance.  The  criticisms  were  mostly 
verbal. 

"  Thomas  Shipley,  that  good  man  and  faithful  friend  of  the 
slave,  objected  to  the  word  f  man-stealer '  as  applied  indiscrimi 
nately  to  the  slaveholders.  To  this  it  was  replied  that  the  term 
was  an  eminently  proper  one ;  that  it  described  the  exact  relation 
between  the  master  and  the  slave.  It  was  urged  that  things 
should  be  called  by  their  right  names ;  that  Luther  had  said  he 
would  '  call  a  hoe  a  hoe,  and  a  spade  a  spade.'  Besides,  it  was 
addled,  it  was  a  Scriptural  phrase,  and  the  chapter  and  verse 
were  quoted  in  which  it  was  used.  This  mollified  Friend  Ship 
ley,  though  it  did  not  set  his  mind  entirely  at  rest.  At  length, 
some  one  suggested  that  the  term  should  be  retained,  but  that 
it  should  be  preceded  by  the  words,  '  according  to  Scripture.7 
This  met  the  difficulty,  and  the  paper  was  amended  so  as  to 
read :  '  Every  American  citizen  who  holds  [retains]  a  human 


^T.  28.]  AMERICAN   ANTI- SLAVERY   SOCIETY.  407 

being  in  involuntary  bondage  as  his  property,  is,  according  to   CHAP.  XII. 
Scripture  (Exodus,  21 : 16),  a  man-stealer.'"  1  ^ 

Lucretia  Mott — like  the  clever  school-teacher  she  had 
been  —  suggested  one  or  two    rhetorical    amendments 
which  were  obvious  improvements.     "  When  our  friends    Proceedings 
felt,"  she  said  years  afterwards,  with  her  quaint  humor,       p.  42a  e 
"that  they  were  planting   themselves  on  the  truths  of 
Divine  Revelation,  and  on  the  Declaration  of  Independ 
ence,  as  an  Everlasting  Rock,  it  seemed  to  me,  as  I  heard 
it  read,  that  the  climax  would  be  better  to  transpose  the 
sentence,  and  place  the  Declaration  of  Independence  first, 
and  the  truths  of  Divine  Revelation  last,  as  the  Everlast 
ing  Rock;  and  I  proposed  it.     I  remember  one  of  the 
younger  members,  Daniel  E.  Jewett,  turning  to  see  what  Ante,  p.  394. 
woman  there  was  there  who  knew  what  the  word  ( trans 
pose7  meant." 

The  formal  act  of  signing  the  Declaration  must,  the 
shortening  daylight  admonished,  be  put  off  till  the  mor 
row.  On  Friday  morning,  "  Samuel  J.  May  rose  to  read 
it  for  the  last  time.2  His  sweet,  persuasive  voice  faltered 
with  the  intensity  of  his  emotions  as  he  repeated  the 

1  This  interpolation  was  distasteful  to  Mr.  Garrison  at  the  time  and  ever 
afterwards.     It  was   " taking    off   the  edge"  of    the  allegation.     "That 
weakens  instead  of  strengthening  it.     It  raises  a  Biblical  question.     It 
makes  the  rights  of  man  depend  upon  a  text.     Now,  it  matters  not  what 
the  Bible  may  say,  so  far  as  these  rights  are  concerned.    They  never  origin 
ated  in  any  parchment,  are  not  dependent  upon  any  parchment,  but  are  in 
the  nature  of  man  himself,  written  upon  the  human  faculties  and  powers 
by  the  finger  of  God  "  (Speech  at  3d  Decade  [1863]  Proceedings,  p.  23).  John 
Quincy  Adams  denied  that  the  allegation  was  either  true  or  just,  in  spite  of 
the  attempted  sanction  from  Scripture  —  perhaps  because  of  it  ('Memoirs,' 
July  14,  1839).     So,  the  next  year,  in  a  letter  to  a  gentleman  in  Brooklyn: 
"  The  American  Anti-Slavery  Society,  composed  of  men  not  holding  a 
single  slave,  undertaking  to  coax  and  reason  five  millions  of  their  fellow- 
citizens  into  the  voluntary  surrender  of  twelve  hundred  millions  of  their 
property,  and  commencing  their  discoxirse  to  the  heart  by  proclaiming 
every  holder  of  a  man  in  bondage  a  man-stealer,  doomed  by  the  Mosaic  law 
to  be  stoned  to  death,  is  also,  to  the  eye  of  a  rational  observer,  a  very 
curious  show  "  (Lib.  10 :  56). 

2  Whittier,  Atlantic  Monthly,  Feb.,  1874,  p.  171.    It  had  just  before  been 
read  by  Dr.  Cox,  who  had  meanwhile  engrossed  the  Declaration  (Second 
Decade  Proceedings,  pp.  9,  10).     The  original  document  is  now  in  the  pos 
session  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society. 


408  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKBISON.  [^T.  28. 


CHAP.  xii.  solemn  pledges  of  the  concluding  paragraphs.  After  a 
season  of  silence,  David  Thurston,  of  Maine,  rose  as  his 
name  was  called  by  one  of  the  secretaries,  and  affixed 
his  name  to  the  document.  One  after  another  passed  up 
to  the  platform,  signed,  and  retired  in  silence.  All  felt 
the  deep  responsibility  of  the  occasion  :  —  the  shadow 
and  forecast  of  a  life-long  struggle  rested  upon  every 
countenance." 

The  instrument  thus  conceived  and  elaborated,  and 
adopted  as  the  justification  of  a  national  crusade  against 
slavery,  was  couched  in  these  terms  : 

.  DECLAKATION     OF     SENTIMENTS. 

The  Convention  assembled  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  to 
organize  a  National  Anti-Slavery  Society,  promptly  seize  the 
opportunity  to  promulgate  the  following  Declaration  of  Senti 
ments,  as  cherished  by  them  in  relation  to  the  enslavement  of 
one-sixth  portion  of  the  American  people. 

More  than  fifty-seven  years  have  elapsed  since  a  band  of 
patriots  convened  in  this  place  to  devise  measures  for  the 
deliverance  of  this  country  from  a  foreign  yoke.  The  corner 
stone  upon  which  they  founded  the  Temple  of  Freedom  was 
broadly  this  —  "that  all  men  are  created  equal;  that  they  are 
endowed  by  their  Creator  with  certain  inalienable  rights; 
that  among  these  are  life,  LIBERTY,  and  the  pursuit  of  happi 
ness."  At  the  sound  of  their  trumpet-call,  three  millions  of 
people  rose  up  as  from  the  sleep  of  death,  and  rushed  to  the 
strife  of  blood  ;  deeming  it  more  glorious  to  die  instantly  as 
freemen,  than  desirable  to  live  one  hour  as  slaves.  They  were 
few  in  number  —  poor  in  resources  ;  but  the  honest  conviction 
that  Truth,  Justice,  and  Right  were  on  their  side,  made  them 
invincible. 

We  have  met  together  for  the  achievement  of  an  enterprise 
without  which  that  of  our  fathers  is  incomplete  ;  and  which, 
for  its  magnitude,  solemnity,  and  probable  results  upon  the 
destiny  of  the  world,  as  far  transcends  theirs  as  moral  truth 
does  physical  force. 

In  purity  of  motive,  in  earnestness  of  zeal,  in  decision  of 
purpose,  in  intrepidity  of  action,  in  steadfastness  of  faith,  in 
sincerity  of  spirit,  we  would  not  be  inferior  to  them. 


^BT.  28. J  AMERICAN   ANTI-SLAVEKY   SOCIETY.  409 

Their  principles  led  them  to  wage  war  against  their   op-    CHAP.  XII. 
pressors,  and  to  spill  human  blood  like  water,  in  order  to  be        l8~ 
free.     Ours  forbid  the  doing  of  evil  that  good  may  come,  and 
lead  us  to  reject,  and  to  entreat  the  oppressed  to  reject,  the  use 
of  all  carnal  weapons  for  deliverance  from  bondage  j  reiving 
solely  upon  those  which  are  spiritual,  and  mighty  through  God 
to  the  pulling  down  of  strongholds. 

Their  measures  were  physical  resistance  —  the  marshalling  in 
arms — the  hostile  array  —  the  mortal  encounter.  Ours  shall  be 
such  only  as  the  opposition  of  moral  purity  to  moral  corruption 
—  the  destruction  of  error  by  the  potency  of  truth — the  over 
throw  of  prejudice  by  the  power  of  love  —  and  the  abolition  of 
slavery  by  the  spirit  of  repentance. 

Their  grievances,  great  as  they  were,  were  trifling  in  com 
parison  with  the  wrongs  and  sufferings  of  those  for  whom 
we  plead.  Our  fathers  were  never  slaves — never  bought 
and  sold  like  cattle — never  shut  out  from  the  light  of  knowl 
edge  and  religion — never  subjected  to  the  lash  of  brutal  task 
masters. 

But  those  for  whose  emancipation  we  are  striving — con 
stituting  at  the  present  time  at  least  one-sixth  part  of  our 
countrymen — are  recognized  by  law,  and  treated  by  their 
fellow -beings,  as  marketable  commodities,  as  goods  and  chat 
tels,  as  brute  beasts ;  are  plundered  daily  of  the  fruits  of  their 
toil  without  redress  j  really  enjoy  no  constitutional  nor  legal 
protection  from  licentious  and  murderous  outrages  upon  their 
persons;  and  are  ruthlessly  torn  asunder  —  the  tender  babe 
from  the  arms  of  its  frantic  mother— the  heart-broken  wife 
from  her  weeping  husband — at  the  caprice  or  pleasure  of  irre 
sponsible  tyrants.  For  the  crime  of  having  a  dark  complexion, 
they  suffer  the  pangs  of  hunger,  the  infliction  of  stripes,  the 
ignominy  of  brutal  servitude.  They  are  kept  in  heathenish 
darkness  by  laws  expressly  enacted  to  make  their  instruction  a 
criminal  offence. 

These  are  the  prominent  circumstances  in  the  condition  of 
more  than  two  millions  of  our  people,  the  proof  of  which  may 
be  found  in  thousands  of  indisputable  facts  and  in  the  laws  of 
the  slaveholding  States. 

Hence  we  maintain — that,  in  view  of  the  civil  and  religious 
privileges  of  this  nation,  the  guilt  of  its  oppression  is  unequalled 
by  any  other  on  the  face  of  the  earth  j  and,  therefore,  that  it  is 
bound  to  repent  instantly,  to  undo  the  heavy  burdens,  and  to 
let  the  oppressed  go  free. 


410  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GAKEISON.  [MT.28. 

CHAP.  XII.       We  further  maintain — that  no  man  has  a  right  to  enslave 

jZ"          or  imbrute  his  brother — to  hold  or  acknowledge  him,  for  one 

moment,  as  a  piece  of  merchandise  —  to  keep  back  his  hire  by 

fraud — or  to  brutalize  his  mind,  by  denying  him  the  means  of 

intellectual,  social  and  moral  improvement. 

The  right  to  enjoy  liberty  is  inalienable.  To  invade  it  is  to 
usurp  the  prerogative  of  Jehovah.  Every  man  has  a  right  to  his 
own  body — to  the  products  of  his  own  labor — to  the  protec 
tion  of  law — and  to  the  common  advantages  of  society.  It  is 
piracy  to  buy  or  steal  a  native  African,  and  subject  him  to 
servitude.  Surely,  the  sin  is  as  great  to  enslave  an  American 
as  an  African. 

Therefore  we  believe  and  affirm — that  there  is  no  difference,  in 
principle,  between  the  African  slave  trade  and  American  slavery: 

That  every  American  citizen  who  retains  a  human  being  in 
involuntary  bondage  as  his  property,  is,  according  to  Scripture 
(Ex.  xxi.  16),  a  man-stealer : 

That  the  slaves  ought  instantly  to  be  set  free,  and  brought 
under  the  protection  of  law  : 

That  if  they  had  lived  from  the  time  of  Pharaoh  down  to  the 
present  period,  and  had  been  entailed  through  successive  gen 
erations,  their  right  to  be  free  could  never  have  been  alienated, 
but  their  claims  would  have  constantly  risen  in  solemnity  : 

That  all  those  laws  which  are  now  in  force,  admitting  the 
right  of  slavery,  are  therefore,  before  God,  utterly  null  and 
void }  being  an  audacious  usurpation  of  the  Divine  prerogative, 
a  daring  infringement  on  the  law  of  nature,  a  base  overthrow 
of  the  very  foundations  of  the  social  compact,  a  complete  ex 
tinction  of  all  the  relations,  endearments  and  obligations  of 
mankind,  and  a  presumptuous  transgression  of  all  the  holy 
commandments ;  and  that  therefore  they  ought  instantly  to  be 
abrogated. 

We  further  believe  and  affirm  —  that  all  persons  of  color 
who  possess  the  qualifications  which  are  demanded  of  others, 
ought  to  be  admitted  forthwith  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  same 
privileges,  and  the  exercise  of  the  same  prerogatives,  as 
others  j  and  that  the  paths  of  preferment,  of  wealth,  and  of 
intelligence,  should  be  opened  as  widely  to  them  as  to  persons 
of  a  white  complexion. 

We  maintain  that  no  compensation  should  be  given  to  the 
planters  emancipating  their  slaves  : 

Because  it  would  be  a  surrender  of  the  great  fundamental 
principle,  that  man  cannot  hold  property  in  man  j 


Mi.  28.]  AMEKICAN   ANTI-SLAYEKY   SOCIETY.  411 

Because  slavery  is  a  crime,  and  therefore  is  not  an  article  to    CHAP.  XII. 
be  sold ;  l833. 

Because  the  holders  of  slaves  are  not  the  just  proprietors  of 
what  they  claim ;  freeing  the  slave  is  not  depriving  them  of 
property,  but  restoring  it  to  its  rightful  owner ;  it  is  not 
wronging  the  master,  but  righting  the  slave  —  restoring  him 
to  himself ; 

Because  immediate  and  general  emancipation  would  only 
destroy  nominal,  not  real,  property  j  it  would  not  amputate  a 
limb  or  break  a  bone  of  the  slaves,  but,  by  infusing  motives 
into  their  breasts,  would  make  them  doubly  valuable  to  the 
masters  as  free  laborers  ;  and 

Because,  if  compensation  is  to  be  given  at  all,  it  should  be 
given  to  the  outraged  and  guiltless  slaves,  and  not  to  those 
who  have  plundered  and  abused  them. 

We  regard  as  delusive,  cruel  and  dangerous  any  scheme  of 
expatriation  which  pretends  to  aid,  either  directly  or  indirectly, 
in  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves,  or  to  be  a  substitute  for  the 
immediate  and  total  abolition  of  slavery. 

We  fully  and  unanimously  recognize  the  sovereignty  of  each 
State,  to  legislate  exclusively  on  the  subject  of  the  slavery 
which  is  tolerated  within  its  limits  j  we  concede  that  Congress, 
under  the  present  national  compact,  has  no  right  to  interfere 
with  any  of  the  slave  States  in  relation  to  this  momentous 
subject : 

But  we  maintain  that  Congress  has  a  right,  and  is  solemnly 
bound,  to  suppress  the  domestic  slave  trade  between  the  sev 
eral  States,  and  to  abolish  slavery  in  those  portions  of  our 
territory  which  the  Constitution  has  placed  under  its  exclusive 
jurisdiction. 

We  also  maintain  that  there  are,  at  the  present  time,  the  high 
est  obligations  resting  upon  the  people  of  the  free  States  to  re 
move  slavery  by  moral  and  political  action,  as  prescribed  in  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States.  They  are  now  living  under  a 
pledge  of  their  tremendous  physical  force,  to  fasten  the  galling 
fetters  of  tyranny  upon  the  limbs  of  millions  in  the  Southern 
States ;  they  are  liable  to  be  called  at  any  moment  to  suppress 
a  general  insurrection  of  the  slaves  ;  they  authorize  the  slave 
owner  to  vote  for  three-fifths  of  his  slaves  as  property,  and 
thus  enable  him  to  perpetuate  his  oppression  j  they  support  a 
standing  army  at  the  South  for  its  protection  ;  and  they  seize 
the  slave  who  has  escaped  into  their  territories,  and  send  him 
back  to  be  tortured  by  an  enraged  master  or  a  brutal  driver. 


412  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAKKISON.  [^T.  28. 


CHAP.  XII.    This  relation  to  slavery  is  criminal,  and  full  of  danger  :  IT  MUST 

j£J3  BE  BROKEN  UP. 

These  are  our  views  and  principles  —  these  our  designs  and 
measures.  With  entire  confidence  in  the  overruling  justice  of 
God,  we  plant  ourselves  upon  the  Declaration  of  our  Independ 
ence  and  the  truths  of  Divine  Revelation,  as  upon  the  Ever 
lasting  Bock. 

We  shall  organize  Anti-  Slavery  Societies,  if  possible,  in 
every  city,  town  and  village  in  our  land. 

We  shall  send  forth  agents  to  lift  up  the  voice  of  remon 
strance,  of  warning,  of  entreaty,  and  of  rebuke. 

We  shall  circulate,  unsparingly  and  extensively,  anti-slavery 
tracts  and  periodicals. 

We  shall  enlist  the  pulpit  and  the  press  in  the  cause  of  the 
suffering  and  the  dumb. 

We  shall  aim  at  a  purification  of  the  churches  from  all  par 
ticipation  in  the  guilt  of  slavery. 

We  shall  encourage  the  labor  of  freemen  rather  than  that  of 
slaves,  by  giving  a  preference  to  their  productions  :  and 

We  shall  spare  no  exertions  nor  means  to  bring  the  whole 
nation  to  speedy  repentance. 

Our  trust  for  victory  is  solely  in  God.  We  may  be  personally 
defeated,  but  our  principles  never  !  Truth,  Justice,  Reason, 
Humanity,  must  and  will  gloriously  triumph.  Already  a  host 
is  coming  up  to  the  help  of  the  Lord  against  the  mighty,  and 
the  prospect  before  us  is  full  of  encouragement. 

Submitting  this  Declaration  to  the  candid  examination  of  the 
people  of  this  country,  and  of  the  friends  of  liberty  throughout 
the  world,  we  hereby  affix  our  signatures  to  it  ;  pledging  our 
selves  that,  under  the  guidance  and  by  the  help  of  Almighty 
God,  we  will  do  all  that  in  us  lies,  consistently  with  this 
Declaration  of  our  principles,  to  overthrow  the  most  execrable 
system  of  slavery  that  has  ever  been  witnessed  upon  earth  5  to 
deliver  our  land  from  its  deadliest  curse  ;  to  wipe  out  the  foul 
est  stain  which  rests  upon  our  national  escutcheon  ;  and  to 
secure  to  the  colored  population  of  the  United  States  all  the 
rights  and  privileges  which  belong  to  them  as  men  and  as 
Americans  —  come  what  may  to  our  persons,  our  interests,  or 
our  reputations  —  whether  we  live  to  witness  the  triumph  of 
Liberty,  Justice,  and  Humanity,  or  perish  untimely  as  martyrs 
in  this  great,  benevolent  and  holy  cause. 

Done  at  Philadelphia,  the  6th  day  of  December,  A.  D.  1833. 


^ET.  28.]  AMEKICAN   ANTI-SLAVEKY   SOCIETY.  413 

Of  the  three-score  signers  of  the  Declaration  not  one  CHAP.  xn. 
was  a  woman.  Such  was  the  custom  of  the  times,  in  I833. 
regard  to  the  public  relation  of  the  sexes,  that  Lucretia 
Mott  and  her  Quaker  sisters  did  not  ask  or  expect  to 
sign  5  the  male  delegates  —  even  the  members  of  their 
own  sect  —  did  not  think  to  invite  them.  It  was  a  signifi 
cant  mark  of  liberality  that  they  had  been  permitted  to 
participate  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Convention  on  an 
equal  footing  in  other  respects.  Moreover,  on  Mr.  Gar 
rison's  motion,  seconded  by  Dr.  Cox,  it  was  resolved  on 
this  third  day  "that  the  cause  of  Abolition  eminently 
deserves  the  countenance  and  support  of  American  wo 
men,"  after  the  British  example.  By  other  resolutions, 
"the  ladies'  anti-slavery  societies"  already  in  existence 
were  hailed  "as  the  harbinger  of  a  brighter  day,"  and 
more  were  called  for.  In  still  another,  moved  by  Dr. 
Cox  and  seconded  by  William  Goodell,  the  Convention 
presented  "  their  thanks  to  their  female  friends  for  the 
deep  interest  they  have  manifested  in  the  Anti-slavery 
cause"  during  the  long  and  fatiguing  sessions.  And 
finally,  Miss  Crandall  was  assured  of  approval,  sympathy 
and  aid.  Resolutions  relating  to  free  produce ;  the  recre 
ancy  of  a  pro-slavery  clergy ;  the  guilt  of  withholding  the 
Bible  from  slaves ;  colored  conventions  and  societies  for 
mutual  improvement,  and  the  like — concluded  the  busi 
ness  of  the  Convention.  Beriah  Green  dismissed  the 
assembly  in  words  of  thrilling  solemnity,  never  to  be 
forgotten  by  those  who  heard  him,  and  ending  "in  a 
prayer  to  Almighty  God,  full  of  fervor  and  feeling, 
imploring  his  blessing  and  sanctification  upon  the  Con 
vention  and  its  labors."  So  ended  the  successful  attempt 
to  give  a  national  basis  to  the  movement  begun  only  three 
years  before  by  the  publication  of  the  Liberator.1 

1A  public  debate  between  R.  S.  Finley  and  Prof.  Elizur  Wright  had 
taken  place  on  the  evenings  of  Dec.  5  and  6,  and  it  was  the  design  of  the 
Colonizationists  to  follow  the  Convention  closely  with  a  great  meeting  of 
their  own,  but  they  broke  down.  "  David  Paul  Brown,  Esq.,  was  to  have 
made  a  speech,  but  failed  them,  in  consequence  of  a  letter  from  Purvis" 
(MS.  Dec.  12,  1833,  Dr.  Cox  to  W.  L.  G.). 


414 


WILLIAM  LLOYD   GAKKISON. 


.  28. 


CHAP.  xii.  The  significant  articles  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
American  Anti-Slavery  Society,  adopted  at  Philadelphia, 
read  as  follows: 

ARTICLE  II. 


1833- 


Pamphlet, 
Proceedings 
Nat.  A.  S. 
Convention, 

pp.  6,  7. 


The  objects  of  this  Society  are  the  entire  abolition  of  slavery 
in  the  United  States.  While  it  admits  that  each  State  in  which 
slavery  exists  has,  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  the 
exclusive  right  to  legislate  in  regard  to  its  abolition  in  said  State, 
it  shall  aim  to  convince  all  our  fellow-citizens,  by  arguments 
addressed  to  their  understandings  and  consciences,  that  slave- 
holding  is  a  heinous  crime  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  that  the 
duty,  safety,  and  best  interests  of  all  concerned  require  its  im 
mediate  abandonment ,  without  expatriation.  The  Society  will  also 
endeavor,  in  a  constitutional  way,  to  influence  Congress  to  put 
an  end  to  the  domestic  slave  trade,  and  to  abolish  slavery  in  all 
those  portions  of  our  common  country  which  come  under  its 
control,  especially  in  the  District  of  Columbia  —  and  likewise  to 
prevent  the  extension  of  it  to  any  State  that  may  be  hereafter 
admitted  to  the  Union.1 

ARTICLE  III. 

This  Society  shall  aim  to  elevate  the  character  and  condition 
of  the  people  of  color,  by  encouraging  their  intellectual,  rrforal 
and  religious  improvement,  and  by  removing  public  prejudice, 
that  thus  they  may,  according  to  their  intellectual  and  moral 
worth,  share  an  equality  with  the  whites  of  civil  and  religious 
privileges ;  but  this  Society  will  never,  in  any  way,  countenance 
the  oppressed  in  vindicating  their  rights  by  resorting  to  physical 
force. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

Any  person  who  consents  to  the  principles  of  this  Constitution, 
who  contributes  to  the  funds  of  this  Society,  and  is  not  a  slave 
holder,2  may  be  a  member  of  this  Society,  and  shall  be  entitled 
to  vote  at  the  meetings. 

In  choosing  the  officers  of  the  new  Society,  Arthur 
Tappan  was  fitly  made  President.  Though  compelled  to 
be  absent  from  the  Convention,  he  was  not  and  could  not 

1  The  ultimate  purpose  of  the  Free  Soil  and  Republican  parties. 

2  A  condition  not  exacted  by  the  Colonization  Society,  for  the  best  of 
reasons. 


^ET.  28.]  AMEEICAN   ANTI-SLAVEBY   SOCIETY.  415 

be  forgotten.  Three  secretaries  were  appointed,  Elizur  CHAP.  xn. 
Wright,  Jr.,  of  Domestic  Correspondence,  Win.  Lloyd  ^^ 
Garrison,  of  Foreign  Correspondence,  and  Abraham  L. 
Cox,  Recording  Secretary.  William  Green,  Jr.,  was  made 
Treasurer.  Mr.  Garrison  did  not  long  retain  his  office. 
The  managers  seem  to  have  expected  of  him  services  in 
the  field  inconsistent  with  his  editorial  career  —  they 
even  talked  of  merging  the  Liberator  in  the  Emancipator .1 
The  foreign  correspondence  itself  may  have  appeared  to 
him  unduly  burdensome,  to  say  nothing  of  the  vexatious 
restriction  that  all  his  letters  must  first  be  submitted  to 
the  Executive  Committee.  He  did  not  covet  that  (or  any 
other)  office,  and  he  seems  to  have  owed  it  to  the  well- 
meant  exertions  of  his  impulsive  friend  R.  B.  Hall,  who 
wrote  to  him  from  New  Haven,  under  date  of  January 
21,  1834,  upon  hearing  of  his  resignation  : 

"  I  will  give  you  succinctly  the  history  of  that  office.  When  MS. 
the  committee  to  form  a  constitution  at  Mr.  Sharpless's  were 
about  to  retire,  I  had  reason  to  suppose  that  the  form  of  con 
stitution  which  they  had  in  their  hands  provided  but  one 
secretary  to  the  Society.  I  knew,  too,  what  was  to  be  the 
management  about  that  office — that  Mr.  Wright  was  to  fill  it,  E.  Wright, 
and  thus  be  the  mouth  [piece]  of  all  anti-slavery  men  in  the 
U.  S.  This  did  not  exactly  suit  me.  I  knew  your  claims,2  I 
knew,  too,  that  you  would  be  placed  on  the  Board  of  Managers 
or  as  a  Vice-President  —  in  other  words,  would  be  second 
fiddle — and  this  did  not  suit  me.  I  laid  hold  on  the  committee, 
and  urged  and  entreated  them  to  create  the  office  to  which  you 
were  subsequently  appointed.  I  used  all  the  little  influence 
which  I  had  with  them  to  procure  the  insertion  in  the  draft  of 
the  Constitution  of  that  office,  and  have  reason  to  suppose  that 
they  were  influenced  by  my  exertions.  I  remember  distinctly 
telling  them,  or  some  of  them,  that  if  there  was  no  office  for 
you  to  fill,  or  for  which  you  were  calculated,  one  ought  to  be 
and  must  be  made.  I  regarded  the  office  of  Foreign  Secretary  as 
one  of  great  importance  to  our  cause." 

1  A  measure  advocated  if  not  instigated  by  the  editor,  C.  W.  Denison, 
who  had  already,  in  the  coolest  manner,  proposed  an  amalgamation  of 
the  Liberator  with  his  World,  then  published  in  Philadelphia  (MS.  Oct.  16, 
1832). 

2  Videlicet,  desert. 


41()  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKRISON.  [^T.  28. 


CHAP.  xii.       Looking  back  over  the  year  1832,  Mr.  Garrison  had, 
!8j3.       in  the  first   annual   report  of  the   New  England  Anti- 
Slavery  Society,  rejoiced  in  the  progress  of  the  cause. 

P.  42.  "  With  feeble  means,  the  Society  has  produced  great  re 

sults.  ...  It  has  effected  the  conversion  of  a  multitude  of 
minds  to  the  doctrine  of  immediate  abolition,  and  given  a  wide 
and  salutary  check  to  the  progress  of  the  Colonization  Society. 
It  has  done  more  to  make  slavery  a  subject  of  national  investi 
gation,  to  excite  discussion,  and  to  maintain  the  freedom  of 
speech  on  a  hitherto  prohibited  theme,  than  all  other  societies 
now  in  operation.  It  has  been  eminently  serviceable  in  encour 
aging  the  free  colored  population,  in  various  places,  to  go 
forward  in  paths  of  improvement,  and  organize  themselves 
into  moral  and  benevolent  associations.  .  .  . 

p.  43.  "  An  Auxiliary  Society  has  been  formed  in  the  Theological 

Seminary  at  Andover.  A  society,  based  upon  the  same  prin 
ciples,  has  also  been  formed  in  Hudson  College,  Ohio,  under 
the  auspices  of  the  President  and  Professors  ;  and  also  a  kindred 
association  in  Lynn,  Massachusetts.  Other  societies,  it  is  ex 
pected,  will  be  speedily  organized  in  Portland,  Providence, 
Bath,  Hallo  well,  New  Haven,  and  other  places.  The  light 
which  has  burst  forth  so  auspiciously  in  the  West,  is  the  har 
binger  of  a  mighty  victory."  1 

Much  greater  reason  had  Mr.  Garrison  to  be  elated  and 
strengthened  by  the  extraordinary  events  of  the  year 
now  drawing  to  a  close.  The  persecution  and  spirited 
defence  of  Miss  Crandall,  in  which  the  princely  liberality 
of  Arthur  Tappan,  the  rare  moral  courage  of  Mr.  May, 
and  the  vigorous  articles  of  Charles  C.  Burleigh,  editor 
of  the  extemporized  Unionist,  combined  to  strike  the 
imagination  and  stir  the  moral  sense  of  the  public  ;  the 
cordial  and  high  social  reception  in  England  of  the 
agent  of  the  New  England  Anti-Slavery  Society;  his 
conspicuous  success  in  defeating  abroad  the  "  humbug" 
Society  which  still  retained  at  home  the  odor  of  respecta 
bility  and  sanctity,2  and  in  bearing  back  the  Wilberf  orce 
protest  against  it;  his  bitter  truths  about  his  sinful 

1  At  this  very  time,  according  to  Benton  ('Thirty  Years'  View,'  1  :  341), 
there  was  "  no  sign  of  a  slavery  agitation  "  ! 

2  Cresson's  retreat  to  America  began  on  Oct.  10,  1833  (Lib.  4:35). 


JET.  28.]  AMEKICAN  ANTI-SLAVERY   SOCIETY.  417 

country  spoken  in  Exeter  Hall ;  the  abolition  of  slavery  CHAP.  xn. 
in  the  British  colonies  ;  the  mobs  awaiting  him  on  his  j^3 
return ;  his  prosecution  for  libel  j  finally,  the  formation 
of  that  National  Anti-Slavery  Society  which  he  had  pro 
jected  from  the  beginning  of  his  agitation  —  all  these 
occurrences  had  fixed  public  attention  on  the  subject  of 
slavery  in  a  manner  never  to  be  diverted  for  an  instant 
thereafter,  had  still  further  awakened  the  sleeping 
conscience  of  the  nation,  spread  the  new  zeal,  and 
multiplied  the  advocates  and  agencies  of  immediate 
emancipation,  and  at  the  same  time  developed  an  active 
spirit  of  violent  hostility  which  also  would  go  on  widen 
ing  and  intensifying,  to  cease  only  on  the  very  eve  of 
the  war  of  emancipation.  Statistical  signs  of  the  mighty 
progress  are  to  be  found  in  Mr.  SewalPs  list,  in  the 
second  annual  report  of  the  New  England  Anti-Slavery  P.  u. 
Society,  of  upwards  of  forty  auxiliary  organizations 
formed  in  the  twelvemonth  in  nearly  every  Northern 
State,  noticeably  at  several  collegiate  institutions  and 
among  the  gentler  sex  —  the  most  important  of  the  latter 
being  the  Philadelphia  Female  An ti- Slavery  Society.1 
Take  also  the  subscribed  declaration  of  124  clergymen 
of  all  denominations  against  colonization  and  in  favor  of  « 

immediate  emancipation,  obtained  in  1833  to  be  prefixed 
to  the  forthcoming  edition  of  the  Rev.  Amos  A.  Phelps's  Lib.  4 : 15. 
1  Lectures  on  Slavery  and  its  Remedy.72  The  delivery 
of  those  lectures  was  itself  an  important  event,  and  their 
publication  a  powerful  contribution  to  the  growing  body 
of  anti-slavery  literature. 

The  Rev.  J.  D.  Paxton's  'Letters  on  Slavery7;  the  Rev. 
S.  J.  May's  letters  to  Andrew  T.  Judson—  <  The  Right  of 

1  "  There  was  not  a  woman  capable  of  taking  the  chair  and  organizing 
that  meeting  in  due  order;  and  we  had  to  call  on  James  McCrummell,  a 
colored  man,  to  give  us  aid  in  the  work.      You  know  that  at  that  time,  and 
even  to  the  present  day,  negroes,  idiots  and  women  were  in  legal  documents 
classed  together ;  so  that  we  were  very  glad  to  get  one  of  our  own  class 
[laughter]  to  come  and  aid  us  in  forming  that  Society  "  (Speech  of  Xiucretia 
Mott,  Third  Decade  Proceedings,  p.  43). 

2  Published  by  the  New  England  Anti-Slavery  Society,  Boston,  1834.   Mr. 
Phelps  was  the  pastor  of  the  Pine-Street  (Trinitarian)  Church  in  that  city. 

VOL.  I.— 27 


418  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON.  OET.  28. 


CHAP.  xii.  Colored  People  to  Education  Vindicated  '  ;  Prof.  Elizur 
1833-  Wright,  Jr.'s,  l  Sin  of  Slavery  and  its  Remedy  '5  Whittier's 
1  Justice  and  Expediency  '  j  l  and,  above  all,  Mrs.  Lydia 
Maria  Child's  startling  i  Appeal  in  favor  of  that  class  of 
Americans  called  Africans'  —  were  the  more  potent  of 
the  new  crop  of  writings  betokening  the  vigor  of  Mr. 
Garrison's  propagandism.  If  Whittier  forfeited  his 
political  career  by  his  adherence  to  "  Justice,"  Mrs.  Child 
sacrificed  without  regret  in  the  same  cause  her  popularity 
as  a  writer,  and  invited  social  indignities  that  now 
appear  incredible.2  To  be  sure,  she  thought  it  honorable 

Appeal,  ed.  to  Mr.  Garrison  to  mention  that  he  was  "the  first  person 
who  dared  to  edit  a  newspaper  in  which  slavery  was 
spoken  of  as  altogether  wicked  and  inexcusable  "  —  the 
first  person,  she  explains,  by  way  of  drawing  a  distinc 
tion  between  him  and  Lundy,  "  that  boldly  attacked 
slavery  as  a  sin,  and  colonization  as  its  twin  sister."  To 
this  double  offence  she  added  that  of  apologizing  for  Mr. 
Garrison's  want  of  moderation,  and  his  "  tendency  to  use 
wholesale  and  unqualified  expressions,"  and  declaring 
him  to  be  "  a  disinterested,  intelligent,  and  remarkably 
pure-minded  man."3 

The  losses  of  the  year  were  personal.  Greatly  deplored 
was  the  untimely  death  of  the  Rev.  Charles  B.  Storrs,  Pres 
ident  of  Western  Reserve  College,  the  focus  of  the  anti- 
slavery  revival  at  the  West,  his  last  act  being  an  attempt 
to  sign  the  declaration  for  Phelps's  *  Lectures.'  Lamented, 

1  Arthur  Tappan  paid  for  an  edition  of  5000  copies  of  this  convincing 
work  ('Life,'  p.  165). 

2  For  example,  the  privileges  of  the  Boston  Athenaeum  library  were  with 
drawn  from  her,  the  first  use  she  had  made  of  them  being  to  take  out  books 
for  the  purpose  of  composing  her  'Appeal'  ('  Letters  of  L.  M.  Child,' 
p.  195;. 

3  "  I  remember  very  distinctly  the  first  time  I  ever  saw  Garrison,"  wrote 
Mrs.  Child  in  1879.     '  '  I  little  thought  then  that  the  whole  pattern  of  m  y 
life-web  would  be  changed  by  that  introduction.     I  was  then  all  absorbed 
in  poetry  and  painting,  soaring  aloft  on  Psyche-wings  into  the  ethereal 
regions  of  mysticism.     He  got  hold  of  the  strings  of  my  conscience  and 
pulled  me  into  reforms.     It  is  of  no  use  to  imagine  what  might  have  been 
if  I  had  never  met  him.     Old  dreams  vanished,  old  associates  departed, 
and  all  things  became  new  "  ('Letters  of  L.  M.  Child,'  p.  255). 


^T.  28.]  AMEKICAN   ANTI- SLAVERY   SOCIETY.  419 

also,  was  the  venerable  John  Kenrick,  of  Newton,  Mass.,   CHAP.  xn. 
the  newly  elected  president  of  the  New  England  Anti-        ^3. 
Slavery  Society,  and  one  of  its  most  liberal  benefactors, 
as  well  as  of  the  Manual  Labor  School.      He  was  "a 
forerunner  of  Abolition,"  to  quote  his  epitaph — an  early 
and  independent  opponent  of  slavery ;  publishing  in  1816 
at  his  own  expense  a  small  volume  on  its  horrors,  and 
circulating  it  in  Congress  and  among  State  Legislatures. 
A  last  word  of  this  strong  and  benevolent  character  may 
fitly  close  the  present  chapter  : 

John  Kenrick  to  W.  L.  Garrison. 

NEWTON,  Dec.  24,  183  [2].  MS. 

DEAR  SIR  :  I  perceive  you  are  an  agent  for  Mr.  B.  Lundy. 
I  have  supported  that  work  from  the  beginning,  and  believe  I 
have  honestly  paid  up  to  the  present  time ;  but  as  he  expects 
pay  in  advance,  I  send  you  $1.00  for  him.  Also,  $2.00  for  the 
Liberator  for  the  coming  year,  and  $1.00  for  the  Abolitionist 
you  are  about  to  publish.  You  may  send  me  receipt. 

I  hope  Mr.  Buffum  received  a  hue  I  sent  Tiim  soon  after  your       Arnold 
address  at  Watertown.  Buffum. 

That  the  Lord  may  bless,  sanctify,  and  guide  you  into  all 
truth,  and  give  you  an  extra  share  of  fortitude  in  answering 
gainsayers,  is  the  desire  of,  dear  Sir,  your  old  worn-out 
friend, 

J.  KENRICK. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

MARRIAGE.  —  "  SHALL  THE  LIBERATOR  DIE  ? "  —  GEORGE 
THOMPSON.  — 1834. 

CHAP.XIII.   "TTIREEDOM'S   COTTAGE,   Roxbury,"  is  the  super- 
1834.  X?    scription  of  a  letter  addressed  on  September  12, 

1834,  by  Mr.  Garrison  to  George  W.  Benson,  of  Provi 
dence,  and  which  began  as  follows  : 

MS.  "A  year  ago,  I  was  just  about  half-way  across  the  Atlantic, 

between  England  and  the  United  States,  as  little  dreaming  that 
I  should  be  a  married  man  within  twelve  months  as  that  I  should 
occupy  the  chair  of  his  holiness  the  Pope.  At  that  time  I  knew 
nothing  of  Freedom's  Cottage,  and  iny  acquaintance  with  Helen 
was  too  slight  to  authorize  me  to  hope  that  a  union  for  life 
might  take  place  between  us. 

"It  has  been  the  most  eventful  year  in  my  history.  I  have 
been  the  occasion  of  many  uproars,  and  a  continual  disturber 
of  the  public  peace.  As  soon  as  I  landed,  I  turned  the  city  of 
New  York  upside  down.  Five  thousand  people  turned  out  to 
see  me  tarred  and  feathered,  but  were  disappointed.  There 
was  also  a  small  hubbub  in  Boston  on  my  arrival.  The  excite 
ment  passed  away,  but  invective  and  calumny  still  followed 
me.  By  dint  of  some  industry  and  much  persuasion,  I  suc 
ceeded  in  inducing  the  abolitionists  in  New  York  to  join  our 
little  band  in  Boston,  in  calling  a  National  Convention  at  Phila 
delphia.  We  met  —  and  such  a  body  of  men,  for  zeal,  firmness, 
integrity,  benevolence  and  moral  greatness,  the  world  has  rarely 
seen  in  a  single  assembly.  Inscribed  upon  a  Declaration  which 
it  was  my  exalted  privilege  to  write,  their  names  can  perish 
only  with  the  knowledge  of  the  history  of  our  times.  A  National 
Anti-Slavery  Society  was  formed,  which  astonished  the  country 
by  its  novelty,  and  awed  it  by  its  boldness.  In  five  months  its 
May,  1834.  first  annual  meeting  was  held  in  the  identical  city  in  which, 

420 


-ET.  29.]  MAEKIAGE.  421 

only  seven  antecedent  months,  abolitionists  were  in  peril  of  CHAP.XIII. 
their  lives !  —  In  ability,  interest,  and  solemnity  it  took  pre- 
cedence  of  all  the  great  religious  celebrations  which  took  place 
at  the  same  time.  During  the  same  month,  a  New  England 
Anti-Slavery  Convention  was  held  in  Boston,  and  so  judicious 
were  its  measures,  so  eloquent  its  appeals,  so  unequivocal  its 
resolutions,  that  it  at  once  gave  shape  and  character  to  the  anti- 
slavery  cause  in  this  section  of  the  Union.  In  the  midst  of  all 
these  mighty  movements,  I  have  wooed  '  a  fair  ladye,'  and  won 
her  —  have  thrown  aside  celibacy,  and  jumped,  body  and  soul, 
into  matrimony  —  have  sunk  the  character  of  bachelor  in  that 
of  husband  —  have  settled  down  into  domestic  quietude,  and 
repudiated  all  my  roving  desires  —  and  have  found  that  which  I 
have  long  been  yearning  to  find,  a  home,  a  wife,  and  a  beauti 
ful  retreat  from  a  turbulent  city. 

"  Here,  then,  conveniently  remote  and  protectingly  obscure 
from  the  great  capital  of  our  State,  I  am  located  in  a  cottage 
which  I  have  long  since  ventured  to  designate  by  Freedom's 
appellation  j  for  within  its  walls  I  have  written  much  in 
defence  of  human  liberty,  and  hope  to  write  more.  If  my 
health  should  be  mercifully  preserved,  and  no  unforeseen  ob 
stacles  prevent,  I  hope  to  make  the  ensuing  winter  memorable 
for  the  aid  I  shall  give  to  the  anti-slavery  cause ;  so  that  it 
shall  be  seen  that  matrimony,  instead  of  hindering,  rather 
advances  my  labors." 

What,  indeed,  strikes  the  reader  of  the  fourth  volume 
of  the  Liberator,  from  the  very  beginning,  is  the  frequency, 
fulness  and  animation  of  the  editorial  articles.     It  is  not 
merely  the  Colonization  Society's  deficit  of  $46,000,  nor     Lib.  4 : 19, 
the  ardor  of  renewed  conflict  with  the  old  "  humbug n ;     22>  27>  IC 
nor  the  abortive  movements  looking  towards   gradual    £#.4:5,14, 
emancipation  in  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  and  Maryland; 
nor  the  equally  abortive  attempt  of  the  last-named  State    Lib.  4 : 125, 
to  effect  forcible  colonization,  which  led  to  an  exposure 
from  Mr.  Garrison's  pen1  scarcely  less  elaborate  than  the 
'  Thoughts '  j  nor  the  suppression  of  free  debate  in  Lane     Lib.  4 : 50, 
Theological  Seminary  and  the  withdrawal  of  the  students ;    ^  174,178; 
nor  the  accession  of  James  Gillespie  Birney  to  the  anti-    L^  '™I29 

131.157.158. 

i  Afterwards  published  by  Garrison  &  Knapp  in  pamphlet  form :  '  The 
Maryland  Scheme  of  Expatriation  Examined.'  Boston,  1834. 


422 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON. 


.  29. 


CHAP.  XIII. 
1834. 

Lib.  4 : 63. 
Lib.  4 : 59, 

Lib.  4 : 27, 
38. 


£#.4:59. 

63,  Garri 
son's  Poems, 
PP.  42,  43- 

Ante,  p.  338. 


colonization  ranks ; l  nor  the  several  anniversaries  above 
referred  to,  and  the  attendant  and  subsequent  mobs; 
nor  the  daily  multiplication  of  anti-slavery  societies ; 
nor  Judson's  retributive  defeat  as  candidate  for  the 
Connecticut  Legislature ;  nor  Charles  Stuart's  arrival  in 
America  5  nor  Gerrit  Smith's  founding  a  manual-labor 
school  at  Peterboro',  for  colored  males.  All  these  cheer 
ing  signs  of  the  times,  following  close  upon  the  organi 
zation  of  the  American  Anti-Slavery  Society,  were  well 
calculated  to  elate  the  editor  of  the  Liberator.  But  one 
is  made  aware  of  a  special  exaltation  seeking  a  vent 
in  verse  —  mainly  in  sonnets  —  of  which  the  last  two, 
"  Helen,  if  thus  we  tenderly  deplore,"  and  "  Thou  mis 
tress  of  my  heart !  my  chosen  one ! "  reveal  the  cause. 
Of  that  touching  farewell  scene  at  the  African  Church 
in  Providence  in  April,  1833,  Miss  Helen  Benson  was  a 
witness,  and  for  the  first  time  looked  on  the  speaker 
whose  name  was  household  in  her  father's  family.  They 
met  again  the  next  day  at  her  brother's  store  —  Mr.  Gar 
rison  deeply  impressed  by  her  "  sweet  countenance  and 
pleasant  conversation  "  ;  she,  who  had  found  him  to  sur 
pass  even  her  imagination  of  him,  "  riveted  to  the  spot," 
lingering  long  to  hear  him  converse,  and  bidding  him 
farewell,  perhaps  forever,  with  a  dull  weight  upon  her 
mind.  In  his  fancy  she  accompanied  him  on  his  outward 
voyage  and  during  his  sojourn  in  England,  and  lightened 
the  tedium  of  his  return.  On  his  subsequent  journeys 
to  and  from  Boston  he  never  omitted  an  opportunity  to 
visit  the  Bensons  at  Brooklyn,  and  every  interview  con 
firmed  him  in  his  admiration  of  her.  She  was  a  plump 
and  rosy  creature,  with  blue  eyes  and  fair  brown  hair,  just 
entering,  when  first  seen  by  him,  her  twenty-third  year.2 

1  First  signified  by  a  letter  to  the  corresponding  secretary  of  the  Kentucky 
Colonization  Society,  dated  July  15,  1834.     Printed  in  pamphlet  form  by 
Garrison  &  Knapp  in  the  same  year.     See,  for  Birney's  general  account  of 
his  change  of  mind,  p.  76  of  the  2d  Annual  Report  of  the  American  A.  S. 
Society,  1835. 

2  Helen  Eliza  Benson  was  born  in  Providence,  R.  L,  February  23,  1811. 
The  family  removed  to  Brooklyn,  Conn.,  in  1824. 


Mf.  29.] 


MAKRIAGE. 


423 


1834. 


Rev.  Samuel 
May,  p.  17, 
Memorial  to 
Helen  Eliza 
Garrison. 


"  Peace  and  Plenty/7  they  sometimes  called  her,  not  more  CHAP.  xin. 
in  allusion  to  her  uniformly  placid  disposition  than  to 
her  easily  aroused  and  irrepressible  mirthfulness.  By 
nature  abstemious  in  her  living,  "a  famous  patron  of 
cold  water,"  simple  in  her  tastes,  and  modest  in  her 
attire,  "  so  generous  and  disinterested,  so  susceptible 
and  obliging,  so  kind  and  attentive,"  the  youngest 
daughter  was  a  universal  favorite. 

"  She  was  the  picture  of  health,  and  the  sound  mind  and 
sound  body  were  evidently  united  in  her.  The  natural  result 
of  good  spirits  followed,  and  these  were  invariably  present. 
But  they  were  not  the  mere  result  of  good  health.  Courtesy, 
thoughtfulness  for  others,  gentle  manners  and  kindly  words 
were  the  rule  of  the  household,  and  they  found  a  ready  dis 
ciple  and  their  best  soil  'in  her,  and  united  to  form  even  at 
that  early  period  a  very  attractive  character.  To  a  certain 
degree  self -distrustful  and  sensitive,  she  would  yet  join  as 
readily  and  easily  in  the  mirth  of  her  companions,  when  her 
self  the  subject  of  it,  as  any  of  them.  She  evidently  knew  the 
value  of  self-control ;  and  if  ever  the  hasty  word  or  sharp 
reflection  rose  to  her  lips,  it  was  repressed,  and  with  evident 
good- will.  In  a  quite  long  and  intimate  association  with  that 
circle  of  friends,  old  and  young  joining  easily,  I  never  saw  in 
her  an  exception  to  this  gentle  spirit,  this  sweet  and  kindly 
disposition.  It  made  sunshine  whenever  she  came  among  us, 
and,  with  the  accompaniment  of  a  voice  in  unison  with  her 
temperament,  never  failed  to  insure  her  a  joyful  welcome." l 

Helen  Benson  had,  withal,  both  a  thoughtful  and  a 
deeply  religious  mind,  which  had  been  early  brought 

l  On  the  first  anniversary  of  his  marriage  Mr.  Garrison  thus  wrote  of  his 
wife  to  her  brother  George:  "I  did  not  marry  her  expecting  that  she 
would  assume  a  prominent  station  in  the  anti-slavery  cause,  but  for 
domestic  quietude  and  happiness.  So  completely  absorbed  am  I  in  that 
cause,  that  it  was  undoubtedly  wise  in  me  to  select  as  a  partner  one  who, 
while  her  benevolent  feelings  were  in  unison  with  mine,  was  less  imme 
diately  and  entirely  connected  with  it.  I  knew  she  was  naturally  diffident, 
and  distrustful  of  her  own  ability  to  do  all  that  her  heart  might  prompt. 
She  is  one  of  those  who  prefer  to  toil  unseen — to  give  by  stealth — and  to 
sacrifice  in  seclusion.  By  her  unwearied  attentions  to  my  wants,  her 
sympathetic  regards,  her  perfect  equanimity  of  mind,  and  her  sweet  and 
endearing  manners,  she  is  no  trifling  support  to  abolitionism,  inasmuch  as 
she  lightens  my  labors,  and  enables  me  to  find  exquisite  delight  in  the 
family  circle,  as  an  offset  to  public  adversity." 


424  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GAKKISON.  (Mi.  29. 


CHAP.  xni.   under  the  happy  influence  of  Samuel  J.  May,  her  neigh- 

1834.        bor,  pastor,  and  warmest  of  warm  friends.    Although 

she  frequently  visited  her  brothers  and  married  sister  in 

Providence,  she  preferred  the  quiet  and  repose  of  the 

country  as  more  favorable  to  serious  reflection. 

MS.  May  "  Your  grandfather's  family/'  writes  Mrs.  Philleo  of 
the  Bensons,  "  was  an  honor  to  humanity,  and  your  dear 
mother  was  their  darling."  Brooklyn  was  then  the  shire 
town  of  Wiiidham  County,  and  there  were  held  the 
several  trials  which  arose  out  of  the  persecution  of  Miss 
Crandall  In  a  letter  to  his  future  father-in-law,  Mr. 
Garrison  wrote,  May  31,  1834  : 

MS.  "  Never  shall  I  forget  the   emotions   which   arose  in  my 

bosom,  on  bidding  you  farewell  at  the  close  of  my  visit  in 
March  last.  Your  house  was  then  thronged  with  colored 
pupils  from  Miss  Crandall's  school,  who  were  summoned  as 
witnesses  at  Mr.  Olney's  l  trial,  and  who  had  no  other  place  in 
Brooklyn  l  where  to  lay  their  heads  '  than  your  hospitable 
dwelling.  They  were  kindly  received  by  you  all  ;  and  although 
in  number  sufficient  to  overwhelm  a  quiet  family  like  yours, 
yet  your  dear  wife  and  daughters  were  as  composed  as  if  not 
one  of  them  had  been  present.  Some  families,  under  such 
circumstances,  would  have  been  thrown  into  utter  confusion  — 
and  bustle,  bustle,  nothing  but  bustle,  and  running  to  and  fro, 
wtfuld  have  been  the  consequence.  I  was  forcibly  struck  by  the 
quietude  of  spirit  manifested  by  you  all,  and  by  that  domestic 
order  which  reigned  paramount  ;  but  more  especially  by  that 
benevolent  condescension  which  is  as  rare  as  it  is  godlike,  and 
that  disinterested  philanthropy  which  led  you  cheerfully  to  en 
tertain  and  accommodate  so  many  of  those  who  are  generally 
treated  in  society  as  the  offscouring  of  the  earth.  In  riding  to 
Providence,  my  thoughts  constantly  reverted  back  to  the  scene 
which  I  had  just  left,  and  my  heart  grew  liquid  as  water. 
'Heavenly  Father,'  I  inwardly  ejaculated,  'let  thy  choicest 
blessings  fall  upon  the  head  of  that  very  dear  and  venerable 
philanthropist,  and  upon  his  dear  wife,  and  all  their  children, 
for  thus  compassionating  the  condition  of  an  injured  and  help 
less  race.'  " 

l  A  colored  man,  falsely  accused  of  setting  Miss  Crandall's  school  on  fire, 
and  acquitted  on  trial. 


MARRIAGE. 


425 


In  truth,  if  any  seal  was  needed  on  the  match  between 
Miss  Benson  and  Mr.  Garrison,  it  was  to  be  found  in  the 
character  and  history  of  her  father.1  A  retired  merchant, 
whose  moderate  fortune  had  been  earned  in  Providence, 
George  Benson  could  look  back  on  more  than  half  a 
century  of  personal  and  associated  opposition  to  slavery. 
He  had  a  hand  in  founding  and  incorporating  (1790)  the 
third  of  those  interesting  abolition  societies  of  the  first 
years  of  the  Republic,  of  which  the  Pennsylvania  So 
ciety,  with  Franklin  at  its  head,  was  the  earliest  and 
the  longest-lived.2  Of  the  Providence  Society  he  was 
latterly  made  the  Secretary;  of  the  Pennsylvania  So 
ciety  promptly  an  honorary  member  (October,  1792). 
The  fugitive  slave  had  in  him  a  friend  at  all  hazards ; 
and  "it  deserves  to  be  recorded  that  while  so  many 
worthy  persons  were  beguiled  by  the  cunningly  devised 
scheme  of  the  American  Colonization  Society,  Mr.  Ben 
son  clearly  comprehended  its  spirit  and  tendency,  and 
wrote  a  long  and  an  elaborate  document  in  opposition  to  it 
even  before  the  Liberator  made  its  appearance."  Lundy 
had  been  his  guest  on  his  lecturing  tour  in  New  England 
in  1828.3  In  May,  1833,  against  his  gentle  protest,  Mr. 
Benson  was  chosen  President  of  the  New  England  Anti- 
Slavery  Society,  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by  the  death 
of  John  Kenrick,  and  in  February,  1834,  was  unani 
mously  reflected  to  the  same  office.  His  health  was 
now  very  feeble,  but  his  sympathy  with  the  cause  was 
undiminished,  as  with  that  other  cause  of  which  Aboli 
tion  was  but  a  part  —  the  cause  of  Peace.  He  was  one 

1  See,  for  details,  the  'Benson  Family  of  Newport,  R.  I.,'  pp.  31-47; 
'Memoir  of  S.   J.   May,'  pp.    113-115,    and    his   'Brief  Account  of    his 
Ministry,' p.  47;  '  Helen  Eliza  Garrison  :  In  Memoriam,' pp.  7-15 ;  Larned's 
'History  of  Windham  County,'  2:473,  475,  484. 

2  According  to  a  letter  dated  April  10,  1835,  from  Thomas  Fowell  Buxton 
to  Prof.  Elizur  Wright,  the  former  had  then  in  his  possession  "the  original 
document  by  which  yo\ir  first  anti-slavery  society  was  formed,  and  signed 
by  Benjamin  Franklin"  (Lib.  5:87). 

3  "June  9th.     Had  a  large  meeting  at  Brooklyn,  Ct.,  where  I  tarried  at 
the  house  of  George  Benson,  a  zealous  friend  of  Emancipation  as  well  as  of 
the  Peace  Society"  ('Life  of  B.  Lundy,'  p.  26). 


CHAP.  XIII. 
1834. 


Ante,  p.  ty. 
Constitution 
of  a  Society 
for  Abolish 
ing  the  Slave 
Trade  (Pro 
vidence, 
1789). 


426  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKEISON. 

Lamed 's      of   the  first  vice-presidents  of   the  Windham   County 

County™     Peace  Society  established  in  1826  through  the  efforts  of 

S.  J.  May,  and  died  its  president ;  and  was  likewise  an 

7^,2:484.  officer  of  the  Windham  County  Temperance  Society,  at 
its  organization  in  1829.  Reared  in  the  Baptist  faith, 
his  views  had  gravitated  towards  those  of  the  Society  of 
Friends,  to  whose  principles  respecting  war,  slavery, 
and  oaths  he  became  a  convert.1  He  "cherished  their 
spirit,  dressed  very  much  in  their  style,  and  generally 
[while  in  Providence]  attended  their  religious  meetings." 
Two  of  his  daughters  became  Friends  "  through  con- 
vincement." 

Religion,  philanthropy  and  hospitality  moulded  the 
family  life  at  "Friendship's  Valley,"  as  Prudence  Crandall 
had  gratefully  denominated  the  Benson  place,  which  lay 
on  both  sides  of  the  Norwich  and  Worcester  road,  in  an 
intervale  at  the  foot  of  the  long  hill  separating  Brooklyn 
from  Pomfret.  Nowhere  could  Mr.  Garrison  have  found 
an  atmosphere  more  congenial  to  his  moral  sense,  or 
more  inimical  to  the  solitary  and  unsettled  life  he  had 

Ante,  p.  390.  hitherto  led.  Almost  in  the  ride  to  Canterbury  he  had 
offered  himself  to  Miss  Helen,  his  companion,  but  lacked 
the  courage.  In  January,  1834,  he  began  a  correspond 
ence  which  speedily  culminated  in  a  proposal  of  mar 
riage  on  his  part,  and  in  a  joyful  yet  self -distrustful 
acceptance  on  hers.  In  April,  on  his  way  to  Philadelphia, 
he  visited  her  for  the  first  time  as  an  acknowledged  suitor, 
and,  to  his  great  satisfaction,  was  received  by  her  in  her 

MS.  April    customary  simplicity  of  dress.     "  Truly,"  he  writes,  "  not 

24. 1834-       one  young  lady  out  of  ten  thousand,  in  a  first  interview 

with  her  lover,  but  would  have  endeavored  falsely  to 

1  This  was  rather  a  case  of  reversion  than  of  conversion,  for  the  affinity 
between  the  early  Friends  and  the  Baptists  was  very  strong  (see  Tallack's 
'  George  Fox,  the  Friends,  and  the  Early  Baptists ').  One  of  Mr.  Benson's 
ancestors,  on  the  maternal  side,  was  that  Rev.  Obadiah  Holmes  who  was 
publicly  whipt  in  Boston,  in  1651,  for  holding  service  at  the  bedside  of  an 
invalid  brother  Baptist,  and  whose  account  of  his  behavior  under  this 
persecution  (in  Clarke's  '  111  Newes  from  New  England ')  shows  how  little 
he  differed  in  spirit  and  in  manner  from  the  equally  outraged  Quakers. 


MT.  29.]  MAKRIAGE.  427 

heighten  her  charms  and  allure  by  outward  attractions."1  CHAP.XIII. 
Deep  and  genuine  affection,  modesty  and  self-respect  jg^. 
determined  her  behavior  on  this  and  on  every  other 
occasion.  The  short  hours  spent  together  in  rambles  up 
the  romantic  Gray  Mare  hill  which  overhangs  the  little 
valley,  or  in  the  privacy  of  evening,  or  in  the  common 
intercourse  of  the  amiable  household,  confirmed  them  in 
the  wisdom  and  sacredness  of  their  new  relation.  Other 
interviews,  on  Mr.  Garrison's  return  to  Boston  (in  May) 
and  again  in  July,  pleasantly  interrupted  and  stimulated 
their  ardent  correspondence. 

At  last  the  wedding  was  fixed  for  Thursday,  Septem 
ber  4,  when  the  ceremony  was  feelingly  performed  by 
Mr.  May.  All  the  appointments  were  plain  and  unosten 
tatious.  Wine  of  course  was  absent  from  the  feast,  and 
even  cake  was  not  provided,  both  bride  and  groom  feel 
ing  the  importance  of  their  example  to  the  colored  popu 
lation,  whose  interest  in  the  event  would  naturally  be 
keen.2  As  for  the  enemies  of  that  race,  accustomed  to 
denounce  Mr.  Garrison  as  an  amalgamationist,  they  were 
playfully  informed  in  advance  that  they  would  soon  "  be  Lib.  4: 131. 
enabled  to  decide  whether  the  editor  of  the  Liberator  is 
to  espouse  a  white  or  a  black  woman." 

On  the  nuptial  day,  the  journey  for  Boston  was  begun 
in 'carriages  by  way  of  Worcester,  the  couple  being 
accompanied  by  Mr.  Garrison's  aunt  Newell,  his  mother's 
youngest  sister,  the  only  one  of  his  relatives  present  at 
the  wedding.  On  the  5th,  housekeeping  began  in  "  Free 
dom's  Cottage,"  on  Bower  St.,  near  Walnut  St.,  Roxbury, 
in  which  Mr.  Garrison  had  boarded  during  the  first  part 

1  "  Premierement  ta  parure,  car  tu  n'en  avals  point,  et  tn  sais  bien  que 
jamais  tu  n'es  si  dangereuse  "  (Rousseau,  'Nouvelle  Helo'ise'). 

2  Speaking  generally,  Helen  Benson  wrote  on  May  22, 1834  •  "  I  am  aware 
of  the  responsibility  that  will  devolve  upon  me,  and  how  much  my  ex 
ample  will  be  copied  among  that  class  you  have  so  long  labored  to  elevate 
and  enlighten.     I  have  been  considering  how  much  the  colored  people  think 
of  dress,  and  how  much  of  their  profits  are  expended  for  useless  ornaments 
that  foolishly  tend  to  make  a  show  and  parade.    As  much  stress  will  of 
course  be  laid  on  Garrison's  wife  by  that  class,  it  behooves  me  to  be  very 
circumspect  in  all  things,  when  called  upon  to  fill  so  important  a  station." 


428  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAKRISON.  [Mi.  29. 

CHAP.  xiii.  of  his  courtship,  and  which  he  had  now  been  enabled  to 
1834.  secure  for  the  honeymoon.  The  situation  was  of  great 
seclusion,  embracing  a  grove,  and  of  great  natural  beauty; 
distant  a  little  more  than  three  miles  from  the  heart  of 
Boston,  and  a  good  half  mile  from  the  nearest  omnibus.1 
Here  for  seven  months  the  young  wife  and  her  husband 
rejoiced  in  their  new  existence,  with  Isaac  Knapp  as  a 
pleasant  and  helpful  inmate, —  contributing  generously  to 
the  common  expenses, —  the  occasional  companionship 
of  his  excellent  sister  Abigail  from  Newburyport,  and 
visits  of  friends  and  relatives  from  Brooklyn  and  Provi 
dence — in  short,  with  "  open  house,"  the  beginning  of  a 
life-long  hospitality.  As  the  welcome  ran  out  to  the 
Mays : 

MS.  "  If  they  are  Grahamites,  we  have  a  fine  spring  of  water  in 

oui'  cellar,  and  plenty  of  Graham  flour  upstairs.  If  they  have 
an  affection  for  coffee  or  tea,  we  have  both.  If  they  love  re 
tirement,  we  are  in  the  midst  of  it.  If  they  have  an  eye  for 
natural  scenery,  we  will  show  them  as  pretty  a  prospect  as  one 
could  desire  to  see.  Do  they  wish  to  be  contiguous  to  the  city, 
yet  not  implicated  in  its  follies  and  fashions  ?  Then  they  will 
assuredly  come  to  Freedom's  Cottage." 

And  yet,  with  all  his  imputed  rashness,  had  the  editor 
of  the  Liberator  ever  done  a  rasher  thing  than  to  get 
married  and  go  to  housekeeping  ?  Hardly  had  he 
returned  home  from  the  Philadelphia  Convention  in 

Lit.  3 : 206.  December,  1833,  before  he  set  off  again  for  the  same  city, 
to  represent  the  precarious  condition  of  his  paper.  The 
first  number  of  the  new  volume,  meantime,  showed  a 
fresh  enlargement,  in  the  teeth  of  a  distinct  announce- 

Lib  4:2.  ment  in  the  same  issue  that  "more  patronage  must  be 
given  to  the  Liberator,  or  it  cannot  long  survive,"  especi 
ally  with  the  increased  expenses  consequent  upon  en 
largement.  Both  in  Philadelphia  and  in  New  York  the 

1  The  midnight  walk  home  from  his  office  in  Boston  after  the  last 
"  hourly"  had  left,  exposed  Mr.  Garrison  to  the  risk  of  being  waylaid  by 
murderous  enemies.  On  these  occasions  his  solicitous  colored  friends 
sometimes  followed  him,  keeping  him  in  sight,  often  without  his  knowl 
edge. 


^ET.  29.]  SHALL   THE  LIBEKATOR  DIE  ?  429 

colored  people  responded  with  gifts  of  money,  and  with  MS.  Jan.  5, 
promises  of  more  extensive  subscriptions  to  the  paper,    y$*Be*sm. 
which  in  the  former  city  were  vigorously  followed  up  by 
Arnold  Buffum,  with  Joshua  Coffin  as  an  active  can 
vasser.     For  a  time  things  went  swimmingly,     Buffum      MS.  Jan. 
found  that  the  fraudulent  non-delivery  of  the  former     <2<w\^G 
carriers  had  disgusted  the  local  subscribers,  but  upon 
his  assurance  that  this  should  not  happen  again  they 
gave  in  their  renewals  in  large  numbers.     His  depend 
ence  on  Coffin,  however,  was  fatal.      That  voluble  and 
"huge  personification   of  good  humor "   was  the  last 
person   to   import   business   strictness  into  any  enter 
prise,  and  especially  into  one  so  loosely  conducted  at 
headquarters.1     He  lacked  neither  industry   nor   devo 
tion,  but  the  more  subscribers  he  obtained  in  his  fashion,    MS.  Feb.  4, 
the  worse  the  confusion  grew,  and  the  louder  the  com-     Buffum  to 
plaints  directed  against  his  host  and  backer,  Arnold      w- L-  G 
Buffum.    Mr.  Garrison's  anxiety   deepened  as  his  suit 
prospered  with  Miss  Benson.     On  April  12,  he  wrote  her 
as  -follows : 

"  Hitherto,  having  had  none  to  care  or  provide  for  but  myself,  MS. 
I  have  felt  contented  in  getting  merely  my  daily  bread.  But 
duty  to  myself  and  to  you  requires  that  I  should  make  such 
arrangements  with  the  Liberator  as  shall  afford  me,  if  a  mode 
rate,  at  least  a  sure  income.  I  am  therefore  resolved  no  longer 
to  be  shackled  by  the  pecuniary  responsibilities  of  the  paper, 
but  to  have  a  stipulated  salary  for  my  services.  This  salary  ought 
to  be  not  less  than  one  thousand  dollars  a  year,  for  my  editorial 
abilities  will  readily  command  more  than  that  sum,  if  devoted 
to  politics  or  literature  :  still,  I  shall  be  satisfied  with  $800  for 
the  present.  In  order  to  make  this  new  arrangement,  I  shall 
be  induced  to  visit  New  York  and  Philadelphia  in  the  course  of 
a  fortnight.  ...  I  shall  endeavor  to  have  my  income  fixed 
at  $1000.  Indeed,  I  can  now  get  that  sum  by  abandoning  the 
Liberator,  and  acting  as  a  general  agent  for  the  National  So 
ciety  ;  but  how  can  I  give  up  my  paper  ?  " 

1  Neither  of  the  partners  had  any  aptitude  for  bookkeeping.  "  Brother 
Knapp,  you  know,"  writes  Mr.  Garrison  to  G.  W.  Benson,  Nov.  30,  1835, 
"resembles  me  very  closely  in  his  habits  of  procrastination.  Indeed,  I 
think  he  is  rather  worse  than  I  am  in  this  respect." 


430  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON.  [^T.  29. 

MS.  April  At  the  same  date  Arnold  Buffum  wrote,  kindly  inviting 
him  to  make  his  house  his  home  during  the  proposed 
visit  to  Philadelphia,  sympathizing  with  him  for  being 
cramped  for  money,  and  relating  his  endeavors  to  push 
collections ;  but  admitting  that  "  this  is  indeed  a  dull 
place  for  abolition  principles,"  and  that  he  could  not  see 
that  any  (male)  anti-slavery  society  would  be  started 
there.1  Three  days  later  a  private  circular  appeal  was 
put  forth  by  Garrison  &  Knapp,  addressed  to  the  friends 
of  the  Liberator,  and  beginning  with  the  startling  en 
quiry,  "SHALL  THE  LIBERATOR  DIE?"  Its  pecu 
niary  embarrassments  had  reached  a  crisis  which  must 
speedily  determine  its  fate.  "Unless  they  be  met  and 
obviated  promptly  by  the  combined  efforts  of  its  friends, 
.the  paper  must  cease  on  the  first  of  July."  Shall  the 
editor  "  be  compelled,  by  imperious  necessity,  to  forsake 
the  cause  which  is  so  near  to  his  heart,  and  turn  his 
attention  to  other  pursuits  in  order  to  get  his  daily 
bread  ?  Shall  he  be  forced  to  occupy  a  station  in  which 
he  can  give  instead  of  a  constant  and  vigorous  coopera 
tion,  but  an  incidental  and  trifling  support  to  a  cause 
which  needs  a  vast  accession  of  strength  to  secure  its 
final  triumph?  In  one  sentence— SHALL  THE  LIBER 
ATOR  DIE?  —  not  so  much  in  consequence  of  the  oppo 
sition  of  its  enemies,  as  the  indifference  of  its  friends  ? " 

"  Permit  us  briefly  to  trace  our  career.  We  commenced  the 
Liberator  without  having  obtained  previously  a  single  subscriber. 
In  the  course  of  the  first  volume,  about  500  subscribers  were 
added  to  our  list :  of  course,  this  number  was  inadequate  to  our 
support.  It  slowly  increased,  however,  during  the  second  and 

l  May  8,  1834,  Lucretia  Mott  writes  to  J.  M.  McKim :  "  Last  week  we  had 
the  renewed  pleasure  of  a  visit  from  Win.  L.  Garrison.  He  passed  several 
days  in  the  city,  addressed  the  colored  people  at  the  Wesleyan  and  Bethel 
churches,  and  would  have  delivered  a  public  address  had  he  met  with  more 
encouragement  from  our  timid  Philadelphia  friends.  He  was  even  dis 
couraged  in  the  desire  he  felt  to  say  a  few  words  to  our  young  men  <5n  the 
evening  of  their  founding  themselves  into  a  society.  He  was  present,  but, 
at  the  request  of  one  or  two,  took  no  part,  they  thinking  the  feeling  here 
of  opposition  to  his  zeal  and  ardent  measures  in  the  cause  was  such  that  it 
would  be  rather  a  disadvantage." 


JET.  29.]  SHALL  THE   LIBEKATOK  DIE  ?  431 

third  volumes,  up  to  1000,  and  then  to  about  1400 ;  and  so  did  CHAP.  xill. 
its  expenses  increase,  owing  to  its  enlargement  without  enhanc-  T^ 
ing  the  terms  of  subscription.  All  this  time,  we  lived  in  the 
most  frugal  and  humble  manner,  in  order  by  the  utmost  self- 
denial  to  sustain  the  paper,  and  disappoint  the  hopes  and 
predictions  of  its  enemies.  Still  we  struggled  under  many 
embarrassments,  and  were  in  bondage  to  penury.  We  grate 
fully  acknowledge  that  several  generous  donations  were  made 
to  us  for  the  support  of  the  paper,  from  various  persons  and 
societies ;  and  had  it  not  been  for  these,  it  would  have  long 
since  ceased  to  exist.  These  were  not  sufficient  to  remove  the 
burden,  although  they  alleviated  its  pressure. 

"  In  commencing  our  present  volume  (the  fourth)  we  again 
enlarged  the  Liberator,  still  affording  it  at  its  original  price. 
At  first,  the  prospect  looked  very  encouraging.  In  less  than 
three  months,  six  hundred  new  subscribers  were  added  to  our 
subscription  list  —  principally  obtained  in  the  cities  of  New 
York  and  Philadelphia,  but  under  such  circumstances  as  to 
afford  us  no  substantial  aid  :  in  fact,  so  remiss  have  they  been 
up  to  this  hour,  in  complying  with  the  terms  of  the  paper,  that 
they  have  only  increased  our  difficulties. 

"  We  have  been  continually  harassed  and  fettered  in  our 
pecuniary  resources,  then  —  1st.  Because  at  no  one  time  since 
its  commencement,  anterior  to  the  present  volume,  have  there 
been  subscribers  enough  to  defray  its  expenses.  2d.  Because 
there  are  over  $2000  due  us  for  the  three  volumes,  a  very  large 
proportion  of  which  sum  we  never  expect  to  realize.  3d.  Be 
cause  the  expense  of  postage,  the  discount  on  foreign  bills,  the 
payment  for  the  transportation  of  bundles  and  distribution  of 
papers  by  carriers,  the  allowance  to  agents,  &c.,  &c.,  have 
reduced  the  sum  of  $2.00  on  each  subscriber  who  has  punctually 
paid,  to  less  than  $1.50.  4th.  Because,  in  our  anxiety  to  ad 
vance  the  sacred  cause  of  freedom,  we  have  liberally  distributed 
copies  of  the  paper  where  we  deemed  they  were  specially  needed, 
and  also  gratuitously  printed  and  circulated  addresses,  tracts, 
pamphlets,  &c.,  on  the  subject  of  slavery  and  colonization,  to  a 
large  amount.1 

l  Thus,  in  a  subsequent  letter  to  S.  J.  May,  July  28,  1834,  Mr.  Garrison 
says  (MS.) :  "  In  reply  to  your  favor  of  the  24th,  my  partner  joins  with  me 
in  consenting  to  print  an  edition  of  Miss  CrandalPs  [defense],  as  large  as 
the  one  proposed  by  you,  at  our  own  risk.  As  to  the  profits  that  may  arise 
from  the  sale  of  the  pamphlet,  we  do  not  expect  to  make  any :  on  the  con 
trary,  we  shall  probably  suffer  some  loss,  in  consequence  of  the  difficulty 


432  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON.  [JET.  29. 

CHAP.  XIII.  "  Besides  all  this,  the  editor  has  been  put  to  great  expense 
j^T  in  travelling  unrenmnerated  from  place  to  place,  delivering 

addresses,  attending  public  meetings,  conventions,  &c.,  &c. 
Moreover,  the  low  price  at  which  the  paper  is  afforded  to  sub 
scribers  allows  scarcely  any  profit,  even  when  they  are  punctual 
in  their  payments. 

"  It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that,  of  the  whole  number  of  sub 
scribers  to  the  Liberator,  only  about  one -fourth  are  white.  The 
paper,  then,  belongs  emphatically  to  the  people  of  color  —  it  is 
their  organ — and  to  them  its  appeals  will  come  with  peculiar 
force.  Let  them  remember  that  so  strong  are  the  prejudices  of 
the  whites  against  it,  we  cannot  at  present  expect  much  support 
from  them.  And  surely,  by  a  very  trifling  combination  of  effort 
and  means,  the  colored  population  might  easily  give  vigor  and 
stability  to  the  paper.  In  Philadelphia,  they  number  25,000 ; 
in  New  York,  20,000 ;  in  Baltimore,  10,000 ;  and  they  are  nu 
merous  in  other  places.  True,  they  are  poor  and  trodden  down ; 
but  how  can  they  arise  without  having  a  press  to  lift  up  its  voice 
in  their  behalf  ?  They  are  poor  — but  taking  the  paper  will  not 
make  them  any  poorer  —  it  will  add  to  their  respectability,  their 
intelligence,  and  their  means.  It  is  for  them,  therefore,  to 
decide  this  question  — 

"  SHALL  THE  LIBERATOR  DIE  1 

"  We  now  print  and  circulate  2300  copies  of  the  Liberator, 
weekly.  Of  this  number,  400  are  taken  in  Philadelphia ;  300 
in  New  York ;  200  in  Boston ;  and  the  rest  are  scattered  through 
the  free  States ;  making  a  total  of  about  2000  actual  subscribers. 
Of  the  remaining  300  we  send  40  to  Hayti,  and  the  same  number 
to  England.  Our  exchange  with  other  papers  has  been  about 
150  —  other  copies  are  distributed  gratuitously." 

The  partners  next  make  an  estimate  of  the  cost  of 
printing  the  Liberator,  and,  allowing  $700  for  the  editor's 
support,  show  an  annual  deficit  of  $1700.  They  propose 
the  raising  of  a  fund  of  one  thousand  dollars,  in  shares 
of  ten  dollars  each,  to  be  paid  over  to  the  Treasurer  of 
the  New  England  Anti-Slavery  Society  on  or  before  the 

of  disposing  of  any  publication,  however  interesting  or  valuable  in  itself. 
But  a  trial  so  important  as  Miss  C.'s  —  involving  such  momentous  conse 
quences  to  a  large  portion  of  our  countrymen  —  implicating  so  deeply  the 
character  of  this  great  nation  —  ought  not  to  go  unpublished,  and  shall  not 
while  we  have  the  necessary  materials  for  printing  it."  See,  in  fact,  the 
pamphlet  '  Report  of  the  Arguments  of  Counsel,'  etc.,  published  by  Garrison 
&  Knapp,  1834. 


.  29.] 


SHALL   THE   LIBERATOK  DIE? 


433 


middle  of  June,  subject  to  the  order  of  Garrison  &  Knapp ; 
and  a  periodic  examination  of  their  accounts  by  the 
Managers  of  the  Society,  with  an  annual  report  from 
them  to  the  several  contributors.  This  rather  vague 
scheme,  coupled  with  anticipated  voluntary  efforts  to 
extend  the  circulation  of  the  paper,  and  a  threatened 
rigid  enforcement  of  the  rule  exacting  payment  in 
advance,  apparently  failed  of  approval,  for  on  June  6 
Mr.  Garrison  wrote  to  Miss  Benson  (who  had  promptly 
met  the  situation  with  "  Bread-and- water  agrees  with  me 
perfectly") :  "  I  am  happy  to  say  that  it  is  probable  the 
Managers  of  the  New  England  Anti-Slavery  Society  will 
determine,  to-morrow  afternoon,  to  take  all  the  pecuniary 
liabilities  of  the  Liberator  hereafter,  and  give  me  a  regu 
lar  salary  for  editing  it,  and  friend  Knapp  a  fair  price 
for  printing  it.  My  salary  will  not  be  less  than  $800  per 
annum,  and  perhaps  it  will  be  fixed  at  $1000.  .  .  . 
The  new  arrangement  will  go  into  effect  on  the  1st  of 
July." 

In  November,  however,1  the  continuance  of  the  Liber 
ator  was  still  a  question.  It  was  the  same  old  story  — 
the  paper  could  not  pay  its  expenses  j  the  arrears  were 
excessive.  The  editor  was  again  seriously  contem 
plating  giving  it  up,  and  again  negotiating  with  the 
New  England  Anti-Slavery  Society  "to  get  rid  of  the 
bookkeeping,  money-getting  part  of  the  business."  He 
also  approached  the  American  Anti-Slavery  Society,  with 
the  result  of  an  offer  on  its  part  to  purchase  a  certain 
number  of  the  anti-slavery  publications  undertaken  by 
Garrison  &  Knapp,  if  sufficient  means  were  furnished 
them  from  other  sources  to  relieve  them  from  their 
present  embarrassment.2  Arnold  Buffum  had  his  plan 
of  making  Mr.  Garrison  the  corresponding  secretary  of 
the  New  England  Anti-Slavery  Society,  and  the  salaried 
editor  of  the  Liberator,  adopted  as  its  organ.  Elizur 

1  Between  the  issues  of  the  4th  and  llth  of  October  the  Liberator  office 
was  removed  from  Merchants'  Hall  to  31  CornhiH. 

2  Apparently  a  significant  part  of  the  indebtedness  was  carried  by  James 
Forten. 

VOL.  L— 28 


CHAP.  XIII. 
1834. 


MS.  April 
14,  1834. 


MS.  Nov. 
10,  1834, 
Geo.  Thomp 
son  to  R. 
Purvis. 
MS.  Dec. 
20,  1834, 
from  A.  L. 
Cox. 


MS.  Nov. 

iB,  Dec.  13, 

1834. 


434  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAEKISON.  [2E-r.  29. 

**SrtNovj0    Wright,  Jr.,  with  much  warm-heartedness  and  practical 

w.  L.  G.      sympathy,  urged  Mr.  Garrison  to  put  delicacy  aside,  and 

quit  his  post  for  a  few  months  and  make  a  lecturing  tour. 

for  the  avowed  purpose  of  gaining  support  for  his  Lib- 

Afs.  NOV.     erator.     Finally,  George  Thompson,  now  Mr.  Garrison's 

R.  Purvis°  neighbor  in  Roxbury,  and  the  confidant  of  his  despair 
concerning  his  pecuniary  prospects,  exerted  all  his  elo 
quence  to  arouse  the  abolitionists  to  a  sense  of  their  duty 
to  the  Liberator  —  a  sense  which  had  been  weakened  by 
the  very  success  of  the  paper  in  multiplying  anti-slavery 
societies  and  periodicals,  as  well  as  by  the  general  finan 
cial  distress  of  the  country  in  the  months  following 
President  Jackson's  interference  with  the  deposits  in  the 
United  States  Bank. 

Thompson  had  indeed  arrived  on  these  shores,  having 

Lib.  4:155.  embarked  with  his  family  on  the  ship  Champlain,  and, 
after  a  five  weeks'  voyage,  landed  in  New  York,  Septem 
ber  20,  1834.  He  had  been  preceded  in  April  by  Charles 

Lib.  4 : 59,  Stuart,  who  brought  with  him  a  thousand  dollars  which 
had  been  collected  for  the  colored  Manual  Labor  School, 
while  to  Mr.  Thompson  had  been  entrusted  a  splendid 
silver  salver,  "  elegant  books,"  and  other  gifts  for  Miss 
Crandall  from  the  ladies  of  Glasgow  and  Edinburgh,  by 
whom  chiefly  his  own  expenses  were  borne.  Mr.  Gar 
rison  had  procured  for  both  Englishmen  the  official 
invitation  of  the  New  England  and  American  Anti- 
Slavery  Societies,  and  had  in  the  opening  number  of  the 
•  fourth  volume  of  the  Liberator  already  heralded  their 
approach.  He  paved  the  way  for  them  by  printing  their 

Lib.  4:51,  private  letters  to  himself,  together  with  Stuart's  circular 
appeal  to  his  countrymen  on  behalf  of  the  School,  and 
his  review  of  the  Colonization  Society ;  and  reports  of 
various  meetings  in  Scotland  complimentary  to  Mr. 
Thompson,  and  pledging  him  support  while  absent  on 
his  anti-slavery  mission  to  America.  "  The  name  of 

Lib.  4 : 47  George  Thompson,"  said  the  editor,  "  is  as  sweet  as  the 
tones  of  a  flute  to  my  ears.  .  .  .  He  is  coming  among 
us  as  an  angel  of  mercy.  .  .  .  The  spectacle  of  the 


.  29.] 


GEOKGE   THOMPSON. 


435 


chivalrous  Lafayette's  embarkation  for  this  country,  to 
assist  in  redeeming  it  from  a  foreign  yoke,  has  far  less 
of  sublimity  in  it  than  the  high  moral  heroism  and  noble 
benevolence  "  of  George  Thompson.  He  comes,  "  not  as 
a  foreigner,  but  as  i  a  man  and  a  brother/  feeling  for  those 
in  bonds  as  bound  with  them."  A  young  man  of  thirty 
years,1  "  his  person  is  tall,  graceful,  and  agile,  his  coun 
tenance  fine  and  attractive,  his  voice  mellifluent,  and  his 
action  all  that  Demosthenes  could  desire.  As  an  orator, 
he  surpasses  every  speaker  that  I  have  ever  heard," 
O'Connell  not  excepted.  "  His  appeals  are  absolutely 
electrifying." 

The  similarity  in  age  between  Mr.  Garrison  and  the 
English  orator  favored  a  friendly  attachment,  but  there 
were  other  circumstances  —  such  as  their  having  sprung 
from  the  middle  class  and  been  denied  the  higher  educa 
tion  ;  above  all,  however,  their  deeply  religious  training 
and  temperament  —  which  drew  them  irresistibly  to 
gether.  Mr.  Thompson's  connection,  too,  with  the 
anti-slavery  cause  began  in  the  very  year  in  which  the 
Liberator  was  founded,  and  as  agent  of  the  London 
Anti-Slavery  Society  he  preached  the  doctrine  of  imme 
diate  and  unconditional  emancipation  throughout  the 
kingdom,  with  an  effectiveness  which,  in  the  judgment 
of  such  men  as  Brougham  and  John  Bright,  determined 
the  success  of  the  agitation  two  years  afterwards,  and 
entitled  him  to  the  name  of  " Liberator."2  Mr.  Gar 
rison's  natural  prepossessions  for  such  a  character  were 
confirmed  on  meeting  Mr.  Thompson,  who  on  his  part 
received  him  with  a  warmth  proportioned  to  his  changed 
opinion  of  him.  The  first  time  the  English  abolitionist 
had  heard  of  the  American,  Elliott  Cresson  was  his 
informant.  "  There  is,"  said  this  unscrupulous  person, 

1  George  Thompson  was  born  in  Liverpool,  June  18,  1804.    ^ 

2  4i  I  have  always  considered  Mr.  Thompson  as  the  real  liberator  of  the 
slaves  in  the  English  colonies  ;  for,  without  his  commanding  eloquence, 
made  irresistible  by  the  blessedness  of  his  cause,  I  do  not  think  all  the 
other  agencies  then  at  work  would  have  procured  their  freedom "  (John 
Bright,  London  Farewell  Soire"e  to  George  Thompson,  1864). 


Cf.  Lib. 
5  •  139.  195- 


Cf.  Lib. 
6:75. 


Mays  Rec 
ollections,  p. 
108,  seq. 


W.  L.  G.  in 

Boston 

Transcript, 

Oct.  14, 

1878. 


May's  Rec 
ollections, 
p.  113. 


436 


WILLIAM  LLOYD   GARRISON. 


.  29. 


CHAP.  XIII. 
1834. 

Lib.  3 : 50. 


London 

Breakfast  to 

W.  L.  G., 

P-47- 


W.  L.  G.  in 
Lectures  of 

Geo.  Thomp 
son,  p.  xi. 


"  an  incendiary  paper,  published  in  Boston  by  a  madman 
who  is  in  league  with  a  man  of  the  name  of  Walker, 
who  has  recommended  the  slaves  to  cut  their  masters' 
throats."  A  little  later,  encountering  Captain  Stuart, 
who  had  just  returned  from  the  United  States,  Thompson 
was  presented  with  copies  of  the  Liberator  and  the 
1  Thoughts  on  Colonization/  the  perusal  of  which  "more 
than  prepared  him  to  extend  a  brother's  welcome  to  the 
founded  and  representative  of  the  New  England  Anti- 
Slavery  Society "  on  his  reaching  England  in  1833.  A 
shake  of  the  hand  by  this  "  madman  "  turned  the  current 
of  his  life,  and  decided  the  character  of  his  future  occu 
pations. 

The  talents  of  George  Thompson  were  such  as  would 
have  insured  him  brilliant  success  at  the  bar,  and  he  was 
strongly  urged  to  enter  the  legal  profession  by  such 
eminent  members  of  it  as  Lord  Brougham,1  the  Bight 
Hon.  Stephen  Lushington  and  Mr.  Serjeant  Stephen,  who 
were  ready  to  direct  his  education  and  to  guarantee  the 
support  of  his  family  in  the  meantime.  At  this  critical 
moment  Mr.  Garrison  appeared  upon  the  scene : 

"  As  the  bill  for  the  abolition  of  Colonial  Slavery  had  passed 
both  houses  of  Parliament,  previous  to  my  embarkation  for  the 
United  States,  and  as  the  long-protracted  contest  in  England 
was  about  drawing  to  a  close,  it  occurred  to  me,  that  if  I  could 
succeed  in  inducing  Mr.  Thompson  to  visit  America,  and  co 
operate  with  the  little  band  of  abolitionists  who  were  there 
struggling  against  wind  and  tide,  my  mission  would  be  crowned 
with  the  highest  success. 

"  One  day  as  I  was  dining  at  the  house  of  Thomas  Fowell 
Buxton,*  in  London,  our  conversation  naturally  turned  upon 
the  state  of  the  abolition  question  in  the  United  States.  In  the 

l  Edmund  Quincy  writes  to  Mr.  Garrison  from  Boston,  Aug.  10,  1838  : 
"  I  have  just  heard  part  of  a  letter  from  Charles  Sumner,  in  which  he  says 
that  he  heard  Lord  Brougham's  anti-slavery  speech  in  the  House  of  Lords, 
in  which  he  paid  the  highest  compliments  to  George  Thompson,  saying 
that  he  was  one  of  the  most  eloquent  men  he  had  ever  heard  either  in  or 
out  of  Parliament,  etc.  This  was  suppressed,  for  some  reason  or  other,  in 
the  Reports."  Brougham's  speech  was  made  July  16  (Lib.  8'151). 

"  *  The  successor  of  Wilberforce  in  Parliament." 


.  29.] 


GEORGE  THOMPSON. 


437 


course  of  many  inquiries,  he   kindly  remarked,  that,  as  the   CHAP.XIII. 


friends  of  negro  emancipation  in  England  had  nearly  accom 
plished  their  work  in  the  Colonies,  they  would  soon  be  enabled 
to  give  their  sympathies  and  aid  to  their  brethren  in  America, 
in  a  more  direct  and  efficient  manner  than  they  had  hitherto 
done ;  and  he  was  sure  they  would  readily  do  what  they  could, 
consistently  with  duty,  the  relations  that  subsisted  between  the 
two  countries,  &c.  *  In  what  way,  then,  Mr.  Garrison,'  he  in 
quired,  '  can  we  best  assist  your  cause  ?  '  t  By  giving  us  George 
Thompson?  I  replied.  '  But,'  he  asked,  '  would  there  not  be 
strong  prejudices  excited  against  him,  on  account  of  his  being 
an  Englishman  ?  Do  you  think  he  could  obtain  a  fair  hearing 
before  the  American  people?  Would  not  the  slaveholders, 
especially,  and  their  violent  adherents,  endeavor  to  inflame  the 
jealousy  of  the  nation,  and  misrepresent  the  real  object  of  his 
mission  ? ' 

"  To  these  questions  I  replied,  that  the  coming  of  Mr. 
Thompson  among  us  would  undoubtedly  stir  up  the  bile  of  all 
those  who  were  opposed  to  the  abolition  of  slavery ;  that  he 
might  expect  to  encounter  severe  ridicule  and  bitter  denuncia 
tion  ;  that  it  would  not  be  safe  for  him  (as  it  was  not  safe  for 
any  New-Englander  who  was  an  abolitionist)  to  travel  and 
lecture  in  the  slave  States ;  and  that  he  would  have  to  take  his 
chance — probably  an  unequal  chance — with  the  rest  of  us  who 
were  proscribed  for  our  abhorrence  of  the  slave  system.  Still, 
I  believed  he  would  find  opportunities  to  speak  in  public,  especi 
ally  in  New  England,  as  often  as  he  could  desire  ;  and  I  felt 
confident,  that  whenever  and  wherever  he  should  succeed  in 
making  himself  heard,  he  would  disarm  prejudice,  extort 
admiration,  and  multiply  converts  to  our  cause ;  and  that  he 
would  finally  remove  every  obstacle  in  his  path,  arising  from 
his  transatlantic  origin.  As  to  his  personal  safety  in  New 
England,  I  did  not  think  there  would  be  any  hazard.  .  .  . 

"Mr/Buxton  pleasantly  remarked,  that,  if  I  thought  they 
could  obtain  a  hearing  at  the  North,  we  might  have  not  only 
Mr.  Thompson,  but  all  their  abolition  lecturers,  if  desirable. 
He  also  said,  that  it  was  his  intention  to  address  a  letter  to  the 
people  of  the  United  States  upon  the  subject  of  slavery,  which 
I  urged  him  to  write  without  delay. 

"  At  my  next  interview  with  Mr.  Thompson,  I  frankly  stated 
to  him  my  views  and  feelings.  Novel  and  startling  as  was  my 
proposition,  it  made  at  once  a  deep  impression  upon  his  benevo 
lent  mind,  and  he  promised  to  give  it  all  that  consideration 


1834. 


Lectures  of 
Geo.  Thomp 
son,  p.  xiv. 


438 


WILLIAM  LLOYD   GAKBISON. 


[.Ex.  29. 


1834. 

Lectures  of 
Geo.  Thomp 
son,  p.  xvi. 


Ibid., p.  xvii. 


CHAP.  XIII.  which  its  importance  merited.  It  was  an  extraordinary  sacri 
fice  which  he  was  invited  to  make,  .  .  .  and  what  but  the 
love  of  Christ  constraining  him  could  have  induced  him  finally  to 
take  up  so  heavy  a  cross  as  this  ?  How  many  plausible  objec 
tions  might  have  been  started  to  the  mission,  if  he  had  been 
disposed  to  shrink  from  its  perils,  or  evade  its  mortifications ! 
He  was  a  foreigner  ;  the  experiment  was  a  novel  one  j  it  might 
needlessly  jeopard  the  happiness  and  safety  of  his  family;  his 
advocacy  might  do  more  harm  than  good ;  there  were  many 
important  moral  enterprises  in  England  which  needed  his 
efforts ;  there  was  no  lack  of  talent  or  zeal  enlisted  in  the  anti- 
slavery  cause  in  the  United  States,  &c.,  &c.  Minds  of  little 
faith  and  of  great  timorousness  might  start  such  difficulties  in 
favor  of  themselves  or  of  others ;  but  George  Thompson  never 
once  thought  of  sheltering  himself  behind  such  coverts.  .  .  . 
Was  the  cause  which  he  was  invited  to  espouse  of  greater 
moment  than  any  other  which  presented  itself?  Could  he 
hope  to  be  more  useful  in  it  than  in  a  subordinate  enterprise  ? 
Would  such  a  mission  be  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  the 
gospel  of  Christ  ?  Was  he  qualified  to  sustain  it  ?  These  were 
the  great  questions  which  occupied  the  thoughts  of  Mr.  Thomp 
son,  and  which,  in  his  view,  included  all  other  considerations." 

The  first  of  them  he  answered  for  himself ;  as  to  the 
last,  taking  counsel  of  his  anti-slavery  friends  and 
colleagues,  with  the  result  of  accepting  the  personal  and 
official  invitation  to  "  come  over  and  help  "  the  American 
abolitionists.  In  the  interval  before  starting  out  he  set 
himself  to  reorganize  British  anti-slavery  sentiment  on 
a  world- wide  basis. 

At  last  Mr.  Garrison's  English  mission  was  full- 
flowered.  He  had  met  on  the  spot  and  crushed  the 
attempt  of  the  Colonizationists  to  enlist  British  sym 
pathy  and  anti-slavery  authority  in  behalf  of  their  So 
ciety  and  to  recruit  their  funds  abroad  ;  he  had  secured 
that  sympathy  and  authority  and  pecuniary  assistance 
for  his  own  movement ;  and  he  was  now  to  bring  Eng 
lish  opinion  to  bear  directly  on  the  United  States  by 
introducing  a  champion  of  the  victorious  cause  of  Wil- 
berforce  and  Clarkson.  The  last  step  was  undoubtedly 
the  most  venturesome  of  the  three,  but  the  candid  his- 


JET.  29.]  GEORGE   THOMPSON.  439 

torian  must  hesitate  to  pronounce  it  ill-advised,  whether  CHAP.XIII. 
Mr.  Garrison's  object  was  to  cement  the  philanthropic  ^ 
English  alliance,  to  shame  his  country  anew,1  to  prick 
the  guilty  or  arouse  the  sleeping  consciences  of  his  coun 
trymen.  For  one  thing,  Mr.  Thompson's  tour  united 
and  inspired  afresh  the  existing  anti-slavery  organiza 
tions,  and  gave  a  great  impulse  to  their  multiplication — 
a  service  which  the  cares  of  the  Liberator  prevented  its 
editor  from  performing.  That  it  thus  prodigiously  in 
tensified  the  agitation  of  the  slavery  question,  invested 
the  abolitionists  with  greater  formidableness  in  the  eyes 
of  the  South,  arrested  the  attention  of  Congress  as 
never  before,  and  forced  the  issue  of  toleration  and 
freedom  of  speech,  nobody  will  ever  be  able  to  disprove. 
It  precipitated  the  "  irrepressible  conflict,"  but  Mr.  Gar 
rison's  peculiar  policy  was  to  precipitate  it.  In  his  rapid 
series  of  assaults  upon  the  slave  system  —  the  doctrine 
of  immediate  emancipation ;  the  organization  of  anti- 
slavery  societies,  local  and  national ;  the  discrediting  of 
the  Colonization  Societ}^,  at  home  and  abroad ;  the  an 
nexation,  so  to  speak,  before  it  had  cooled  off,  of  the 
profound  anti-slavery  sentiment  of  Great  Britain  to  his 
struggling  enterprise  —  the  invitation  to  George  Thomp 
son  to  accept  a  lecturing  agency  in  this  country  ranks  as 
the  last  but,  strategically,  by  no  means  the  least. 

A  friendly  critic,  however,  himself  a  foreigner,2  has 
declared  that  "  the  national  spirit  (Nationalsinnj  of  no 

1  George  Ticknor  writes  to  William  H.  Prescott  from  Dresden,  Feb.  8, 
1836 :    "  Your  remarks  about  Dr.  Channing's  book  on  Slavery  bring  up  the 
whole  subject  afresh  before  me.     You  cannot  think  how  difficult  and  often 
how  disagreeable  a  matter  it  is  to  an  American  travelling  in  Europe,  to 
answer  all  the  questions  that  are  put  to  him  about  it,  and  hear  all  the 
remarks  that  are  made  in  consequence.     .     .     .     One  good,  and  only  one 
that  I  know  of,  can  come  from  this  state  of  opinion  in  Europe  :  the  South 
ern  States  must  be  rebuked  by  it,  and  it  is  better  the  reproach  should  come 
from  abroad  than  from  New  England  and  the  North"  ('Life  of  George 
Ticknor,'  1:480). 

2  Von  Hoist,  '  Constitutional  History  of  the  United  States,  from  the  Ad 
ministration  of  Jackson,'  pp.  104, 105  (pp.  107, 108,  of  the  German  original). 
The  present  translation  is  our  own ;  that  of  the  American  edition  being  a 
betrayal. 


440 


WILLIAM  LLOYD   GAKRISON. 


.  29. 


CHAP.  xiii.  great  people  could  or  should  have  borne  with  equanim- 
1834.  ity  "  this  practical  exemplification  of  the  "  cosmopolitan 
vagueness  and  extravagance  "  embodied  in  the  Liberator 
motto,  "  Our  country  is  the  world,  our  countrymen  are  all 
mankind."  Further,  that  while  it  would  now  be  foolish 
and  unjust  to  throw  stones  at  the  abolitionists  for  seek 
ing  foreign  coadjutors,  "  it  would  be  at  least  as  foolish 
and  unjust  to  make  it  a  reproach  to  the  rest  of  the  Ame 
rican  people,  that  they  felt  the  dragging  of  foreigners 
into  the  most  difficult  and  important  question  of  their 
politics  to  be  an  insult  (ScMmpfJ,  and  that  they  did  not 
regard  this  question  simply  from  the  point  of  view  of 
human  beings  (Mensclien),  or  citizens  of  the  world,  but, 
before  all,  approached  it  as  Americans."1 

This  dictum  is  open  to  the  comment  that  the  "  cosmo 
politan  vagueness  and  extravagance"  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  on  which  the  abolitionists  relied  for 
their  own  justification,  was  designed  to  command  univer 
sal  assent,  and  has,  in  fact,  as  a  seminal  principle,  never 
ceased  to  work  changes  and  upheavals  in  foreign  coun 
tries  from  the  first  French  Revolution  downwards.  Fur 
ther,  that  mouths  which  were  repeating  and  applauding, 
every  Fourth  of  July,  the  self-evident  truth  that  "  all 
men  are  created  equal "  were,  morally  speaking,  choked 
against  crying  down  a  foreigner  who  joined  them  in 
offering  homage  to  it.2  It  must  also  be  clear  that  a 

Ante, p.  250.  people  which  had  blessed  Polish  banners  in  Faneuil  Hall 
had  nothing  to  complain  of  in  an  agitation  conducted  by 
non-partisan  non-resistants,  and  kept  strictly  within  the 

1  See  in  Lib.  4 : 201  the  Boston  Courier's  approval  of  the  Salem  Gazette, 
which  called  Thompson  an  "itinerant  stirrer  up  of  strife,"  and  declared. 
"The  pride  of  our  countrymen  will  not  long  submit  to  foreign  inter 
ference." 

2  "Meanwhile,  every  true  citizen  of  that  country  must  necessarily  be 
content  to  have  his  self-government  tried  by  the  test  of  these  principles 
[the  truths  of  the  Declaration],  to  which,  by  his  citizenship,  he  has  become 
a  subscriber,    .    .    .    and  he  will  quarrel  with  no  results  fairly  brought  oiit 
by  such  a  test,  whether  they  inspire  him  with  shame  or  with  complacency. 
In  either  case,  he  will  be  animated  by  them  "  (Harriet  Martineau's  '  Society 
in  America,'  Part  1,  Politics). 


-ET.  29.]  GEORGE   THOMPSON.  441 

Constitution  in  its  methods  and  scope,  even  if  among  CHAP.XIII. 
them    there    happened   to   be    some   of    foreign    birth.         !834. 
Finally,  though  a  blind  and  wicked  Americanism  doubt 
less   heightened  the  fury  of  the   mobs  to  which   both 
Stuart  and  Thompson  were  exposed,  their  treatment  was 
not  different  in  kind  from  that  of  the  native  abolitionists,     Lib.  5 : 205. 
and  the  want  of  "  equanimity  "  was  as  much  an  evidence 
of  "  national  spirit "  in  the  case  of  the  latter  as  of  the 
former. 

But  let  us  see  how  a  great  people  should  have  regarded 
the  case  of  another  foreigner,  the  Rev.  Charles  Follen,  a 
fugitive  from  the  tyranny  of  the  Old  World,  at  this  time 
Professor  of  the  German  Language  and  Literature  at 
Harvard  College.1  Dr.  Follen  had  first  openly  allied 
himself  with  the  abolitionists  at  the  second  annual  meet 
ing  of  the  New  England  Anti-Slavery  Society  in  March,  Lib.  4:42. 
1834,  where  he  made  a  speech  in  fullest  sympathy  with 
their  aims,  while  deprecating  the  use  of  "harsh  lan 
guage."  In  May  following,  he  participated  in  the  impor 
tant  convention  of  delegates  from  all  the  anti-slavery 
organizations  in  New  England  held  at  Boston,  being  one  Lib.  4 : 86. 
of  the  committee  of  arrangements,  and  also  chairman  of 
a  committee  to  prepare  an  address  to  the  people  of  New 
England.  In  the  latter  capacity  he  composed  a  long,  Lib.  4:  Ar 
able  and  temperate  document,  towards  the  close  of  which 
occurs  the  oft-quoted  passage  : 

"Europe,  which  had  rekindled  the  extinguished  lamp  of  £^.4:143. 
liberty  at  the  altar  of  our  Revolution,  still  nourishes  the  holy 
fire ;  England  goes  before  us  as  a  torch-bearer,  leading  the  way 
to  the  liberation  of  mankind.  The  despotism  which  our  fore 
fathers  could  not  bear  in  their  native  country  is  expiring,  and 
the  sword  of  justice,  in  her  reformed  hands,  has  applied  its 
exterminating  edge  to  slavery.  Shall  the  United  States,  the 
free  United  States,  which  could  not  bear  the  bonds  of  a  King, 

1  It  is  not  irrelevant  to  notice  here  that  the  same  ship  which  brought 
over  Lafayette  on  his  last  visit  to  this  country,  also  bore  Follen  hither 
shortly  afterwards,  and  that  Lafayette  was  the  first  person  to  whom  Follen 
wrote  on  his  arrival,  as  being  the  only  person  he  knew  in  this  country 
('Life  of  Follen/ p.  139). 


442  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAKRISON. 

CHAP.  XIII.    cradle  the  bondage  which  a  King  is  abolishing  ?   Shall  a  repub- 
j^7  lie  be  less  free  than  a  monarchy  ?     Shall  we,  in  the  vigor  and 

buoyancy  of  our  manhood,  be  less  energetic  in  righteousness 
than  a  kingdom  in  its  age  ?  " 

The  descendants  of  those  respectable  citizens  of  Boston 
and  Cambridge  who  afterwards  persecuted  Dr.  Follen  for 
sentiments  like  "these,  may  be  trusted  not  to  pride  them 
selves  on  the  circumstance.  What  is  more  to  our  pur 
pose  is  to  ask  whether  those  who  resented  his  foreign 
intermeddling  were  the  true  Americans,1  or  were  Garri- 
Lib.  4 : 143.  son,  who  wrote,  "  We  can  only  say  that  we  wish  we  had 
many  more  such  foreigners  among  us,"  and  Whittier, 
who  caught  up  the  passage  we  have  just  cited,  and  poet 
ized  it  in  his  glowing  "  Stanzas  "  f  — 

"  Our  fellow-countrymen  in  chains ! 

"Speak!  shall  their  agony  of  prayer 
Come  thrilling  to  our  hearts  in  vain  ? 

To  us  whose  fathers  scorned  to  bear 
The  paltry  menace  of  a  chain? 

"What!   shall  we  send,  with  lavish  breath, 

Our  sympathies  across  the  wave, 
Where  Manhood,  on  the  field  of  death, 

Strikes  for  his  freedom  or  a  grave? 
Shall  prayers  go  up,  and  hymns  be  sung 

For  Greece,  the  Moslem  fetters  spurning, 
And  millions  hail  with  pen  and  tongue 

Our  light  on  all  her  altars  burning  ? 

"  Shall  Belgium  feel,  and  gallant  France, 

By  Vendome's  pile  and  Schoenbrun's  •  wall, 
And  Poland,  gasping  on  her  lance, 

The  impulse  of  our  cheering  call? 
And  shall  the  SLAVE,  beneath  our  eye, 

Clank  o'er  our  fields  his  hateful  chain? 
And  toss  his  fettered  arms  on  high, 

And  groan  for  Freedom's  gift,  in  vain? 

l  The  fact  that  Dr.  Follen  had  been  newly  naturalized  —  he  became  a  citi 
zen  in  March,  1830  ('Life,'  p.  267)  —  may  even  have  furnished  a  new  ground 
of  resentment,  viz.,  "ingratitude." 


JET.  29.  J  GEOKGE   THOMPSON.  443 

u  Just  God!   and  shall  we  calmly  rest,  CHAP. XIII. 

The  Christian's  scorn,  —  the  heathen's  mirth,  —  l87. 

Content  to  live  the  lingering  jest 

And  byword  of  a  mocking  Earth? 
Shall  our  own  glorious  land  retain 

That  curse  which  Europe  scorns  to  bear? 
Shall  our  own  brethren  drag  the  chain 

Which  not  even  Russia's  menials  wear*?" 

The  truth  is,  that  had  Thompson  and  Stuart  had  a 
pro-slavery  message  to  deliver,  their  nativity  would 
have  been  forgotten,  or  made  to  emphasize  their  support 
of  the  "  peculiar  institution."  They  would  have  been 
cheered  and  feted  instead  of  mobbed.  It  was  the  humani 
nil  a  me  alienum 1  which  made  them  "  foreigners,"  as  it 
had  already,  in  the  eyes  of  slaveholders  and  their  apolo 
gists,  denationalized  the  abolitionists  of  the  North.  Now  Ante,  p.  389. 
let  each  show,  in  a  few  words,  his  care  to  avoid  the  special 
opposition  aroused  against  him,  and  both  the  American 
and  the  Christian  scope  of  his  mission.  Thus  Charles 
Stuart,  in  the  circular  appeal,  already  mentioned,  to  the  Ante, p.  434. 
English  friends  of  humanity  and  religion  "  on  behalf  of 
the  colored  Manual  Labor  School"  (London,  November 
1,  1833) : 

"  The  sympathy  and  the  aid  of  Great  Britain  are  not  invited  Lib.  4:  58. 
with  even  the  remotest  view  of  interfering  with  the  political 
establishments  of  the  United  States ;  for  with  these  we  have 
nothing  —  and  ought  to  have  nothing  —  to  do.  But  for  the 
purpose  of  giving  our  cordial  countenance  and  encouragement 
to  all  which  is  truly  honorable  amongst  them.  —  to  all  that  con 
firms  and  purifies  their  power  and  their  happiness;  for  the 
purpose  of  uniting  in  the  glorious  effort  which  the  real  patriots 
amongst  themselves  are  making  to  extirpate  the  prejudice 
and  the  slavery  which  tarnish  their  honor  and  blight  their 
prosperity." 

1  "  He  knew  it  might  be  asked,  how  he  could  presume  to  make  foreign 
matters  the  subject  of  his  criticism  and  condemnation.  He  would  answer 
in  the  words  of  Terence  —  Homo  sum  :  nil  humani  a  me  alienum  puto.  .  .  . 
The  apostolic  precept,  '  Remember  them  that  are  in  bonds,'  was  restricted 
in  its  application  by  no  territorial  limitations  "  (George  Thompson  at  Edin 
burgh,  November,  1833  (Lib.  4 : 58).  See  also  his  speech  at  the  second 
annual  meeting  of  the  American  Anti-Slavery  Society  (Lib.  5: 82). 


444  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON.  [MT.  29. 

CHAP.  XIIL       And  thus  George  Thompson,  in  a  lecture  on '"  Slavery 
I874.        in  the  United  States  "  at  Edinburgh  (October  25,  1833) : 

Lib.  4 : 65.  "  Leave  it  to  the  Government,  said  some,  and  slavery  will 
soon  be  abolished.  Why,  in  the  Government,  the  slaveholders 
were  omnipotent,  and  would  not.  Leave  it  to  the  other  indi 
vidual  free  States,  said  others.  Why,  they  had  no  power.  How 
then  were  they  to  propose  to  attack  slavery  ?  —  what  lever  were 
they  to  use  to  overthrow  it,  and  where  would  they  take  their 
stand  ?  They  should  attack  it  with  the  same  weapons  by  which 
the  victory  had  been  gained  in  this  country,  by  the  weapons  of 
mercy,  justice,  truth,  and  love;  they  should  overthrow  it  by 
the  lever  of  public  opinion ;  and  they  should  take  their  stand 
upon  the  Declaration  of  Independence  —  upon  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States  —  liberty  and  equality,  and  that  every  man 
is  equal  in  the  sight  of  God." l 

This  purely  moral  agitation  was,  of  course,  calculated 
to  work  a  political  revolution  in  a  country  where  the 
'  ruling  power  reposed  on  the  "  sum  of  all  villanies  " —  a 
fact  which  made  it  appear  to  some  of  the  English  aboli 
tionists  a  delicate  matter  to  send  over  missionaries.  "  I 
MS.  May  hope  our  good  friend  Stuart,77  writes  James  Cropper  to 
Mr.  Garrison,  "  will  be  safely  arrived  in  America  before 
this  time.  I  have  taken  no  part  in  promoting  missions 
to  America.  I  did,  however,  contribute  to  the  fund 
which  is  placed  at  Stuart7s  disposal.  I  am  a  little  afraid 
of  our  stepping  out  of  our  proper  place  in  paying  agents 
to  travel  in  the  United  States,  but  I  am  satisfied  there  is 
a  degree  of  apathy  from  which  it  is  needful  the  people  in 
your  country  should  by  some  means  be  aroused."  To 
Cropper's  correspondent  the  employment  of  such  agents 
was  as  patriotic  as  his  own  propagandism  in  England. 
Thompson  and  Stuart  in  America  were  merely  Exeter 
Hall  transported  and  made  visible  —  English  opinion 
personified  and  brought  home  —  a  judgment  and  a  cen 
sure  no  longer  felt  as  afar  off,  but  present  and  hourly 
delivered  with  burning  eloquence.  To  invoke  and  en 
force  this  censure  without  striving  to  remove  the  cause, 

l  This  report  is  not  verbatim. 


^T.  29.]  GEOKGE   THOMPSON.  445 

would  justly  have  exposed  the  abolitionists  to  the  charge  CHAP.XIII. 
of  want  of  patriotism.     On  this  score  Mr.  Garrison's  con- 
science  was  easy;   witness  part   of  his   speech   at  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  New  England  Anti-Slavery  Society 
in  March : 

"'  Sir,  our  professions  of  republicanism  and  Christianity  are      Lib.  4:42. 
lofty  ;  but  neither  God  nor  the  world  will  judge  us  by  our  pro 
fessions,  but  by  our  practices.     If  the  picture  I  have  drawn  be 
a  correct  one,  are  we  not  practically  a  false,  hypocritical  and 
tyrannical  nation  ? 

"  I  speak  the  truth,  painful,  humiliating  and  terrible  as  it  is ; 
and  because  I  am  bold  and  faithful  to  do  so,  am  I  to  be  branded 
as  the  calumniator  and  enemy  of  my  country  ?  If  to  suffer  sin 
upon  my  brother  be  to  hate  him  in  my  heart,  then  to  suffer  sin 
upon  my  country  would  be  an  evidence  not  of  my  love  but 
hatred  of  her.  Sir,  it  is  because  my  affection  for  her  is  intense, 
and  paramount  to  all  selfish  considerations,  that  I  do  not  parley 
with  her  crimes.  I  know  that  she  can  neither  be  truly  happy 
nor  prosperous  while  she  continues  to  manacle  and  brutalize 
every  sixth  child  born  on  her  soil.  Lying  lips  are  speaking 
'  peace,  peace,'  to  her ;  but  she  shall  not  see  peace  until  the 
tears  of  her  repentance  shall  have  washed  away  every  stain  of 
blood  from  her  escutcheon. 

"  They  who  are  defiling  her  purity,  and  by  their  tyrannous 
acts  disgracing  her  character,  have  the  brazen  audacity  to 
pretend  that  they  are  jealous  of  her  good  name  and  fame  in 
Europe,  and  throughout  the  world !  Yes,  sir,  they  who  are 
constantly  trading  in  the  bodies  and  souls  of  men  —  ay,  the 
bodies  and  souls  of  their  own  children  —  who  are  cracking 
their  bloody  whips  over  the  heads  and  upon  the  bodies  of  their 
lacerated  bondmen  —  who  are  for  banishing  the  Bible  and  ex 
tinguishing  the  light  of  divine  revelation  —  who  make  it  a  crime 
to  teach  a  human  being  to  read  —  these  are  the  men,  and  their 
apologists  and  abettors,  who  are  full  of  solicitude  for  the  honor 
of  the  nation,  that  it  may  appear  spotless  in  the  eyes  of  the 
world  !  The  hypocrites  !  they  shall  at  least  respect  my  under 
standing  —  they  shall  know  that  I  am  not  to  be  dismayed  by 
their  cries  of  slander,  and  by  their  threats  of  assassination.  I 
tell  them,  once  for  all,  that  I  am  not  their  enemy  —  that  it  is 
not  in  their  power,  by  any  exhibition  of  their  malice  or  revenge, 
to  make  me  their  enemy.  It  is  true,  my  detestation  of  their 
robberies  and  outrages  is  unutterable ;  but  I  desire  nothing  so 


446 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKRISON. 


29. 


CHAP.  XIII. 

1834. 


H.  Marti- 
neaus  Auto 
biography, 
1-335.  and 
Retrospect 
of  Western 
Travel, 
Chap,  i. 


£#.4:155. 
Lib.  4 : 78. 

Ante,  p.  382. 


Lib.  4 : 79. 


much  as  to  promote  their  temporal  and  eternal  welfare,  and  to 
exalt  the  character  of  the  United  States.  *  This  is  my  own, 
my  native  land ' —  and  I  shall  ever  be  ready  —  ay,  a  thousand 
times  more  ready  —  to  vindicate  its  reputation  from  the  asper 
sions  of  its  enemies,  than  to  defend  my  own.  I  acknowledge 
no  boundaries  to  my  patriotism  or  love,  but  still  I  have  my 
local  attachment,  and  prefer  the  land  of  my  birth  to  every 
other." 

Thompson,  as  we  say,  had  arrived.  His  coming  had 
been  well  advertised  in  the  Liberator,  and  the  New 
York  colonization  dailies  prepared  to  incite  the  rabble 
to  do  violence  on  him.  The  uncertainty  and  postpone 
ment  of  his  departure  happily  saved  him  from  such  a 
reception  as  had  been  contrived  for  Mr.  Garrison  a  year 
before.  He  was  to  have  taken  passage  in  the  United 
States,  which  brought  over  Harriet  Martineau  a  little  in 
advance  of  him,  and  of  which  the  captain  was  admon 
ished  by  the  pilot  to  hide  Mr.  Thompson  for  his  life  if 
he  had  him  on  board.  This  precaution  might  have  been 
justified.  Toward  the  close  of  September,  however,  there 
was  a  temporary  lull  in  the  mob  energy  which  for  two 
months  had  displayed  itself  in  every  part  of  the  North, 
beginning  with  New  York ;  and  the  efforts  of  the  Courier 
and  Enquirer  to  revive  it  for  Mr.  Thompson's  benefit 
failed  of  success. 

On  the  6th  of  May  the  American  Anti-Slavery  Society 
had  held  unmolested  its  first  anniversary  in  the  same 
Chatham-Street  Chapel  in  which,  the  year  before,  the 
New  York  City  Anti-Slavery  Society  had  been  forced  to 
organize  by  stealth,  and  to  adjourn  precipitately  in 
advance  of  the  mob  at  the  gates.  Arthur  Tappan  pre 
sided.  Mr.  Garrison  was  present,  and  spoke,  though  but 
little,  on  account  of  a  severe  cold.  Charles  Stuart  like 
wise  addressed  the  Society,  and  pointed  the  contrast 
between  October,  1833,  and  May,  1834,  by  defending  his 
friend  against  the  charge  of  having  slandered  his  country 
abroad.  Still  another  church  was  found  in  which  to  pro 
tract  the  meeting,  which  in  all  occupied  four  days.  The 


.  29.] 


GEORGE   THOMPSON. 


447 


Colonizationists,  who  had  held  a  counter  meeting  in 
palliation  of  slavery,  kept  aloof  till  a  pretext  for  inter 
fering  was  furnished  by  the  unfavorable  testimony  of  a 
returned  colonist  as  to  the  condition  of  Liberia.  The 
last  two  days,  at  the  Chapel,  were  marked  by  interrup 
tions,  and  at  the  close  on  Saturday  afternoon  the  hall 
was  seized  by  Gurley,  the  Rev.  G.  W.  Bethune,  a  Metho 
dist  bishop  from  Virginia  and  others,  for  a  coloniza- 
tionist  demonstration.  "  Some  of  the  ruffians  bawled 
out  for  Garrison,"  but  he  "  was  out  of  their  murderous 
reach."  This  was  far  from  satisfying  the  Courier  and 
Enquirer,  which  warned  the  abolitionists  never  to  meet 
again  in  New  York. 

Disregarding  this  prohibition,  the  abolitionists  of 
that  city  reassembled  on  the  4th  of  July  at  the  Chapel, 
with  David  Paul  Brown,  of  Philadelphia,  as  the  orator 
of  the  day.  "  Hundreds  of  young  men,  who  sat  near 
the  doors,"  drowned  his  voice  with  derisive  cheers  and 
completely  prevented  a  hearing.  Their  triumph  was 
the  beginning  of  an  era  of  lawlessness  which,  fanned 
by  the  Courier  and  Enquirer,  and  first  directed  against 
the  black  population,  was  speedily  turned  against  their 
friends.  Lewis  Tappan's  house  was  gutted  (July  9), 
Arthur  Tappan's  store  attacked  (July  10),  and  only  saved 
by  armed  defence  from  within,  various  private  residences 
and  several  churches  and  schools  more  or  less  damaged, 
the  colored  people  barbarously  assaulted  on  the  streets 
and  in  their  homes ;  and  not  until  the  third  day  of  mob 
rule  did  the  civil  and  military  authorities  succeed  in 
restoring  security  not  only  to  the  victims  of  the  out 
break,  but  to  all  the  "  respectable  "  and  moneyed  classes, 
whose  indifference  to  "  nigger  "  persecution  was  changed 
into  the  liveliest  alarm  concerning  their  own  safety. 
After  this,  through  July  and  August,  we  read  of  pro- 
slavery  riots  or  attempts  in  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania  (a 
terrific  three  days'  raid  on  the  colored  quarter  in  Phila 
delphia,  among  smaller  disturbances),  Ohio,  Connecticut 
(the  coup  de  grace  to  Miss  Crandall's  school),  yes,  in 


CHAP.  XIIL 
1834- 


Lib.  4 : 79. 
Lib.  4 : 85. 


Life  of 
Arthur  Tap- 
pan,  p.  204. 


Ibid. ,  //. 

209-224 ; 
Lib.  4:  in, 
114;  Niles 

Register, 
46 : 357-36o- 


Lib. 


:  115, 


156  ;  Niles' 

Register, 

46  :  413,  435. 


448 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKKISON. 


.  29. 


NUes  Regis- 

ter,  46 : 413, 

436;  47:15, 
z,^.4:  n9. 


MS.  Aug 
18,1834. 


MS. 


Rev.  A.  A. 
Phelps. 


Theodore 
Lyman. 


July  25, 
1834- 


Michigan ;  and  even  the  sacking  of  the  Ursuline  Con 
vent  (August  11)  at  Charlestown,  Mass.,  seemed  part  of 
the  mania  for  violence  which  had  its  origin  in  the  news 
paper  offices  of  Stone  and  Webb  and  the  councils  of  the 
New  York  colonizationists. 

Mr.  Garrison,  to  whom  "these  things  give  hope  and 
courage,"  as  he  writes  to  Miss  Benson,  assuredly  was  not 
disheartened  because  the  general  condemnation  of  them 
by  the  press  of  the  country  was  usually  accompanied  by 
abuse  of  the  abolitionists.  Rather  he  had  the  satisfac 
tion  of  seeing  poetic  justice  meted  out  in  Boston,  where 
the  feeling  in  sympathy  with  New  York  ruffianism  was 
strong  enough  to  react  even  upon  the  instigators  of  the 
latter.  On  July  28,  he  writes  to  Mr.  May : 

"Messrs.  Robert  J.  Breckinridg-e,  John  Breckinridge,  and 
Leonard  Bacon,  and  Rev.  Mr.  M'Kenney,  Agent  of  the  Mary- 
laud  Colonization  Society,  are  now  in  tliis  city,  with  two 
African  Princes.  They  have  come  en  masse,  to  make  a  grand 
attack  upon  us,  but  will  be  defeated,  according  to  present 
appearances.  On  Saturday,  our  city  papers  contained  a  bold 
and  showy  advertisement,  stating  that  a  meeting  would  be 
held  by  these  gentlemen  at  the  Bromfield- Street  (Methodist) 
Church  on  Sabbath  evening,  to  urge  the  claims  of  the  Mary 
land  Colonization  Society;  and  that  other  meetings  for  the 
same  object  would  be  held  successively  during  the  same  week. 
Of  course,  this  created  much  animation  in  our  ranks.  Brother 
Phelps  was  just  on  the  eve  of  embarking  for  Portland,  but 
concluded  to  tarry  and  encounter  the  shock  of  these  potent 
antagonists.  However,  the  evening  papers  of  Saturday  con 
tained  a  notice,  that  the  contemplated  meetings  would  be  post 
poned  until  further  notice,  which  you  may  read,  '  postponed 
indefinitely.'  It  is  said  that  they  received  a  visit  from  the 
Mayor,  who  urged  them  not  to  hold  their  meetings  at  this 
juncture  —  stating,  among-  other  things,  that  the  mob  would 
not  be  likely  to  discriminate  between  colonizationists  and 
abolitionists,  but  would  readily  seize  any  pretext  to  create  a 
disturbance.  It  is  said,  moreover,  that  the  trustees  of  the 
church  reconsidered  their  vote  granting  these  gentlemen  the 
use  of  their  house.  Thus  matters  stand  at  present.  .  .  . 

"  On  Friday  evening,  I  called  upon  the  Rev.  John  Breckin 
ridge,  in  company  with  brother  Phelps.  The  interview  lasted 


^T.  29.J  GEORGE   THOMPSON.  449 

till  between  11  and  12  o'clock.  The  first  half  hour  was  spent  CHAP.  XIII. 
in  an  amicable  and  argumentative  discussion,  respecting  the  j^T 
duty  of  immediate  emancipation.  Brother  Phelps  left  me  to 
manage  the  case,  only  now  and  then  thrusting  in  a  keen,  pithy 
and  pertinent  remark.  Mr.  B.,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  soon  lost  his 
temper,  and  overwhelmed  us  poor  abolitionists  with  a  tempest 
of  epithets.  His  nervous  system  is  extremely  sensitive,  and 
when  it  is  excited  he  almost  becomes  frantic.  His  language 
towards  me  was  really  abusive,  and  unworthy  of  a  Christian 
minister.  Notwithstanding  the  provocations  which  he  gave 
me,  I  endeavored  —  and  I  trust  not  without  success  —  to  pre 
serve  my  equanimity.  I  said  to  him  —  *  Mr.  Breckinridge,  we 
are  both  aware  that  the  best  men  in  our  land  are  divided  on 
the  question  of  African  colonization,  and  they  need  and  are 
calling  for  more  light.  They  wish  to  hear  both  sides  of  the 
question.  Will  you  discuss  it  with^me  before  the  citizens  of 
Boston  u? '  '  No,'  said  he,  1 1  do  not  consider  you  my  equal. 
You  are  too  debased  and  degraded  in  community  for  me, 
occupying  the  station  that  I  do,  to  hold  a  controversy  with 
you.'  '  This,'  I  replied,  *  is  a  convenient  mode  of  escape.  Will 
you  encounter  my  brother  Phelps0?'  '  No.'  *Will  you  discuss 
the  question  with  any  abolitionist  ? '  *  No.'  He  was  much  ex 
cited  when  we  separated,  and  intimated  that  he  did  not  desire 
to  have  me  call  upon  him  again.  I  went  home  lamenting  that 
our  interview  had  not  been  more  placid,  but  feeling  no  unkind- 
iiess,  but  rather  much  pity,  toward  him.  I  fell  down  on  my 
knees,  and  besought  the  Lord  to  forgive  him  for  all  his  accusa 
tions  against  me,  to  open  his  eyes  if  he  were  in  error,  and  to 
grant  that  no  ill-will  should  be  left  to  rankle  in  our  hearts.  I 
also  earnestly  besought  forgiveness  for  myself,  if  I  had  said  or 
done  aught  amiss.  My  mind  was  very  tranquil." 

The  meeting  was  finally'held  in  the  lower  hall  of  the     £#.4:123. 
Masonic  Temple,  in  spite  of  direct  incitement  to  violence 
by  the  press  and  by  means  of  placards.1     Mr.  Garrison 
was  present,  and,  during  the  slight  interruptions  which 
ensued,   besought  the   chairman,   Horace   Mann,   to   do    Lib.  4 : 127. 
his  duty  by  the  disturbers ;  though  for  his  own  part  he 
regarded  the  Rev.  John  Breckinridge's  speech  as  "  fero- 

l  In  his  debate  with  George  Thompson  in  Glasgow,  in  June,  1836,  Mr. 
Breckinridge  accused  Mr.  Garrison  of  having  concocted  and  printed  a 
mobbing  placard  (Lib.  6  : 135). 

VOL.  I.— 29 


450  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GABKISON.  [^T.  29. 


CHAP.  xiii.   cious  and  diabolical."     On  August   11   he  wrote  to  G. 
1834.        W.  Benson  : 

MS.  "  You  will  have  seen  by  the  Liberator,  that  a  grand  attack  by 

all  the  combined  forces  of  colonization  and  slavery  has  lately 
been  made  upon  Boston,  in  relation  to  the  Maryland  scheme  of 
expatriation.  They  have  met  with  a  Waterloo  defeat,  and  yet 
they  fought  pugnis  et  calcibus  —  with  tooth  and  nails,  and  even 
horns.  The  Messrs.  Breckinridge  complained  piteously  of  their 
treatment  in  Providence.  Not  a  meeting-house  could  they 
obtain  in  that  city  !  Alas  !  t  there  's  none  so  poor  would  do 
them  reverence.'  Even  in  this  city  it  was  with  the  utmost 
difficulty  they  could  find  a  place  in  which  to  exhibit  those 
young  humbugs,  the  two  '  African  princes,'  and  their  emancipa 
tion  scheme,  which  is  the  greatest  humbug  of  all  !  They  could 
get  into  no  churches  but  the  Methodist  —  not  even  into  Park 
Street  !  Now  let  them  ask,  with  a  sneer,  What  have  abolition 
ists  done  "?  "  l 

This  unfriendly  reception  of  the  colonizationists,  how 
ever,  was  a  sacrifice  of  real  to  outward  logic.2  The 
abolitionists  had  equally  been  obliged  to  give  up  a 
public  celebration  in  Boston  on  the  date  of  emancipation 
in  the  British  West  Indies.3  The  Commercial  Gazette 
was  meantime  recommending  the  indictment  by  the 
Lib.  4:118,  grand  jury  of  Garrison  and  his  associates  as  public 
nuisances,  or,  in  default  of  this,  "  provision  at  the  public 
expense  with  a  wholesome  and  salutary  coat  of  tar  and 
feathers."  Such  was  the  Boston  to  which  Mr.  Garrison 
was  about  to  bring  his  young  bride,  and  to  welcome 
George  Thompson. 

MS.  "  My  dear  friend  and  brother,"  wrote  the  latter  from  the 

130  Nassau     Anti-Slavery  Office  in  New  York,  on  Wednesday,  September  24, 

1  The  Rev.  Orson  S.  Murray  writes  to  Mr.  Garrison  (MS.  Oct.  11,  1834) 
of  Congregational  clergymen  in  Vermont  who  would  no  longer  take  up 
collections  for  the  Colonization  Society. 

2  "  The  people  of  Boston  should  know  no  difference  between  IMMEDIATE 
ABOLITION  and  COLONIZATION,  if  they  are  calculated  to  destroy  the  harmony 
which  should  subsist  between  the  North  and  the  South"  (Commercial  Ga 
zette,  in  Lib.  4:  123.     Of.  ante,  pp.  303,  304.) 

3  MS.  July  23,  1834,  W.  L.  G.  to  S.  J.  May.     This  celebration  on  the  1st 
of  August,  which  was  continued  throughout  the  anti-slavery  struggle,  was 
first  proposed  by  Mr.  Garrison  (Lib.  4:87). 


.  29.] 


GEOKGE   THOMPSON. 


451 


1834,  "  I  arrived  upon  your  shores  on  Saturday  last,  bringing  Sept.  20. 
with  me  Mrs.  Thompson,  our  dear  children,  and  our  servant. 
I  was  warmly  greeted  by  the  abolitionists  of  this  city,  but  some 
what  curiously  received  by  the  other  dwellers  in  this  the  commer 
cial  metropolis  of  the  freest  empire  under  the  sun.  The  particulars 
you  shall  have  when  we  meet.  They  will  bring  another  blush 
for  your  country  upon  your  cheek.  ...  I  have  been 
delighted  with  all  I  have  yet  witnessed  in  this  country,  save 
the  conduct  and  dispositions  of  its  rational  and  accountable 
inhabitants.  I  feel  that  I  could  love  this  land  and  its  people 
with  all  my  heart,  were  but  oppression  banished,  and  the 
language  of  all  hearts  this  — 

"  'The  liberty  we  love  we  will  bestow.'" 

The  curious  reception  here  referred  to  was  nothing 
less  than  the  turning  Mr.  Thompson  and  his  family  out 
of  the  Atlantic  Hotel,  to  gratify  an  indignant  Southern 
guest.  Prudence  dictated  that  the  object  of  this  bru 
tality  should  not  begin  his  public  addresses  on  the  spot 
where  he  landed,  and  where  the  embers  of  the  July  riots 
were  hardly  cold.  In  the  Courier  and  Enquirer  of  Sep 
tember  23,  Mr.  Thompson  could  read  of  himself  as 
"another  apostle  of  fanaticism  [like  Stuart],  hired  by 
the  immediate  abolitionists  to  come  among  us  and  dis 
seminate  those  precious  doctrines  of  social  equality  and 
physical  amalgamation."  The  same  paper  warned  him 
"  not  to  venture  upon  a  lecture  in  favor  of  immediate 
abolition,"  and  thus  court  mob  violence ;  called  upon  the 
police  to  stop  him  ;  and  added  :  "  If  our  people  will  not 
suffer  our  own  citizens  to  tamper  with  the  question  of 
slavery,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  they  will  tolerate 
the  officious  intermeddling  of  a  Foreign  Fanatic." 

The  town  of  Groton,  Massachusetts,  was  destined  to 
be  the  scene  of  the  first  public  utterance  of  George 
Thompson  in  America.  He  had  reached  Freedom's 
Cottage  the  day  before  (September  30),  where  he  was 
presently  joined  by  S.  J.  May,  in  whose  company  and 
Mr.  Garrison's  he  set  out,  on  the  morning  of  October  1, 
for  the  meeting  of  the  Middlesex  County  Anti- Slavery 
Society.  His  two  companions  were  the  only  reporters  of  Lib.  4 : 163  ; 


Lib.  4 : 155, 
194 ;  5 : 195  ; 

London 
Abolitionist, 

1:98. 

MS.  Oct.  7, 
1834,  Lewis 
Tappan  to 
W.  L.  G. 


Lib.  4  :i6i. 


London 

Abolitionist, 

i :  149. 


452 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKBISON. 


May's  Rec 
ollections, 
p.  117. 


Lib.  4 :  163, 
166,167,174, 

I75,i9i; 

London 

Abolitionist, 

I  : 150-157. 


Lib.  4 : 193. 


London 
Abolitionist, 

i : 152 ; 
Lib.  4:174. 


Lib.  4 : 175. 


Lib.  5:4. 


Lib.  4 :  194 ; 
Cow  ley's 
History  of 
Lowell,  p. 
82,  and  Re 
miniscences 
ofj.  C. 


his  speech.  Mr.  May's  graphic  account  of  it  leaves  no 
doubt  of  the  impression  it  must  have  made  on  all  who 
heard  it.  Mr.  Garrison  had  not  overrated  his  friend's 
eloquence.  Invitations  began  to  pour  in  on  him  from  all 
quarters,  and  a  New  England  tour  was  the  immediate 
result.  His  course  through  Eastern  Massachusetts, 
Maine,  New  Hampshire,  and  Rhode  Island  may  be  traced 
in  the  pages  of  the  Liberator.  Churches  were  as  readily 
thrown  open  to  him  as  were  anti-slavery  conventions, 
and  a  large  part  of  the  thirty  addresses  or  more  he  had 
made  before  the  end  of  the  year  were  delivered  in  them. 
Occasionally  he  would  give  a  common  pulpit  discourse, 
in  the  clergyman's  place,  for  which  his  religious  spirit 
fitted  him  so  well  that  the  Richmond  (Va.)  Enquirer  was 
quite  right  in  designating  him  as  an  incendiary  British 
"  missionary  "  rather  than  emissary.1 

Nevertheless,  he  did  not  entirely  escape  that  species  of 
"  warm  reception  "  with  which  the  Enquirer  menaced  him 
in  case  he  should  cross  the  Potomac.  His  windows  were 
broken  in  Augusta,  Maine,  where  a  State  Anti-Slavery" 
Convention  was  in  progress ;  and  a  committee  of  citizens 
requested  him  to  leave  town  immediately  under  pain  of 
being  mobbed  if  he  reentered  the  Convention.  Dis 
turbers  followed  him  from  Augusta  to  Hallowell,  but 
were  overawed.  At  Concord,  New  Hampshire,  he  was 
interrupted  with  missiles  while  addressing  a  ladies'  meet 
ing.  At  Lowell,  Mass.,  on  his  second  visit,  in  the  Town 
Hall,  a  brickbat  thrown  from  without  through  the  win 
dow  narrowly  escaped  his  head,  and,  in  spite  of  the 
manliness  of  the  selectmen,  a  meeting  the  next  evening 
was  abandoned  in  the  certainty  of  fresh  and  deadly 

l  Some  of  the  Philadelphia  Quakers  objected  to  Thompson  because  he 
made  such  long  prayers  (MS.  Mar.  27,  1835,  Henry  Benson  to  G.  W.  Benson). 
In  his  youth  he  was  employed  as  one  of  the  under-secretaries  in  the  London 
Methodist  Mission  House,  and  used  to  hold  evening  meetings  in  some  of  the 
poor  districts  of  the  metropolis,  and  go  about  on  Sundays  distrttmting  Bibles 
and  tracts  (May's  '  Recollections/  p.  109).  He  is  often  styled  "  Rev."  in  the 
reports  of  his  meetings  in  America  (Lib.  5:1;  6:8;  and  2d  Annual  Report 
of  the  American  A.  S.  Society,  p.  47). 


^T.  29.]  GEOKGE   THOMPSON.  453 

assaults.     Before  this  conclusion  was  known,  a  placard   CHAP.XIII. 
in  the  streets  (December  2),  declaring  that  agitation  of        I^J4. 
the  slavery  question  would  "  endanger  the  safety  of  the    £#.4:195. 
Union,"  asked :  "  Do  you  wish  instruction  from  an  Eng 
lishman  ? "  and  invited  a  rally  at  the  hall  that  evening, 
to  convince  Southerners  that  their  rights  would  not  be 
interfered  with  by  their  Northern  brethren.      The  mob 
found  the  premises   empty,   but  took  possession,   and 
adopted  resolutions,  framed  by  three  of  the  foremost 
citizens  of  Lowell,1  embodying  the  sense  of  the  placard, 
though    condescending    to   "  deplore    the    existence  of 
slavery  "  as  a  "  blot  on  the  reputation  of  our  otherwise 
free  country." 

In  Boston,  after  this,  no  other  hall  could  be  found  for 
Mr.  Thompson  but  that  of  the  New  England  Anti-Slavery  Lib.  4 : 199. 
Society,  though  some  churches,  particularly  the  Methodist, 
were  yet  open  to  him.  Meantime,  after  having  enjoyed 
the  hospitality  of  Freedom's  Cottage  2  for  several  weeks, 
he  took  permanent  lodgings  in  Roxbury  not  far  away, 
where  the  premature  confinement  of  his  wife  gave  him 
time  to  reflect  on  the  superior  patriotism  of  Lowell,  Au 
gusta,  and  Concord,  as  contrasted  with  the  un-American 
cordiality  manifested  towards  him  at  Portland,  Bruns 
wick,  Providence,  and  elsewhere.  Kindred  thoughts  were 
also  suggested  by  the  press  abuse  of  himself  as  repro 
duced  in  the  Liberators  new  department,  "  The  Refuge 
of  Oppression," 3  and  by  the  consequent  notoriety  which 
for  the  moment  eclipsed  that  of  his  friend  and  host. 

1  Including  John  P.  Robinson  and  Thomas  (afterwards  Judge)  Hopkinson, 
leading  lawyers.     From  the  latter's  office  Wendell  Phillips  had  lately  gone 
to  be  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Concord,  Mass.  (Crowley's  Lowell,  p.  119). 

2  "  The  cottage  in  the  wood,  where,  on  a  bleak  winter's  night,  we  huddled 
round  a  log  fire  and  talked  over  our  plans  for  the  future  "  (MS.  fragment, 
185—,  Geo.  Thompson  to  W.  L.  G.) 

3  A  natural  development  of  the  original  "  Slavery  Record  "  of  the  first 
volume;  "into  which  we  propose  to  copy  some  of  the  choicest  specimens 
of  anti-abolition  morality,  decency,  logic  and  humanity  —  generally  without 
note  or  comment"  (Lib.  4:3).     A  year  later:  "It  has  already  opened  the 
eyes  of  many  to  see  how  cruelly  abolitionists  are  calumniated  by  their  ene 
mies  ;  and  it  proves  that  we  are  ready  to  let  both  sides  of  the  controversy 
be  seen  in  our  columns  "  (Lib.  5 : 3). 


454 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON. 


.  29. 


CHAP.  XIII. 

1834. 

May's  Rec 
ollections, 
p.  102 ; 
Life  of 
Arthur  Tap- 
pan,  Chap. 


Mays  Rec 
ollections, 
p.  203 ; 
Mass.  Aboli 
tionist, 
2 : 133. 


Lib.  4 : 206, 
207. 


Lib.  4:38. 


Lib.  4 1175. 


This  is  not  the  place,  looking  backward,  to  dwell  at 
length  on  the  great  incidents  of  the  year  already  alluded 
to — the  anti-slavery  uprising  and  secession  at  Lane  Semi 
nary,  under  the  leadership  of  Theodore  D.  Weld,  against 
the  suppression  of  free  debate  by  the  Trustees,  with  Dr. 
Lyman  Beecher's  assent :  a  revolt  in  which  the  names  of 
James  A.  Thome,  of  Kentucky,  Marius  R.  Robinson,  of 
Tennessee,  and  Henry  B.  Stan  ton  were  also  prominent ; 
and  the  formal  abandonment  of  the  Colonization  Society 
by  an  ex- slaveholder,  J.  G.  Birney,1  on  grounds  apparently 
worked  out  independently  of  the  *  Thoughts,'  and  there 
fore  all  the  more  confirmatory  of  that  arraignment  (with 
which,  however,  he  was  pretty  certainly  acquainted). 
Gerrit  Smith,  too,  was  getting  ready  to  break  off  from  the 
same  connection,  and  exhibiting  in  the  process  his  char 
acteristic  singleness  of  moral  purpose  and  cloudiness  of 
logic.  We  remark,  further,  the  first  appearance  in  the 
anti-slavery  ranks  of  Nathaniel  Peabody  Rogers,  of  Ply 
mouth,  N.  H.,  already  seeming  a  warm  personal  friend  of 
Mr.  Garrison,  and  vouched  for  by  the  latter  as  "  an  able 
lawyer  and  an  enlightened  Christian " ; 2  of  Rogers's 
neighbor,  John  Farmer,  the  antiquarian;  of  Farmer's 
constant  correspondent  in  Boston,  Francis  Jackson  ; 3  of 
the  Rev.  George  B.  Cheever,  and  others. 

»     l  "The  emancipated  and  emancipator"  (MS.  May  11,  1835,  W.  L.  G.   to 
his  wife). 

2  Rogers  was  corresponding  secretary  of  the  local  anti-slavery  society, 
and,  together  with  D.  L.  Child  and  S.  E.  Sewall,  one  of  the  trustees  of  the 
Noyes  Academy  at  Canaan,  N.  H.,  which  was  opened  in  the  fall  of  1834  to 
colored  youth  on  equal  terms  with  white  (Lib.  4  : 38,  169). 

3  Francis  Jackson  was  born  in  Newton,  Mass.,  in  1789,  and  became  the 
historian  of  that  town.     His  father,  Timothy  Jackson,  was  a  minute-man 
who  joined  in  the  pursuit  of  the  retreating  British  on  April  19,  1775. 
He  himself  was  a  soldier  at  Fort  Warren  in  Boston  harbor  in  the  War  of 
1812.     He  early  took  an  active  part  in  the  municipal  affairs  of  Boston,  and 
directed  some  of  its  chief  territorial  improvements,  but  did  not  seek  office. 
He  was  a  very  tower  of  strong  will,   solid  judgment,  ..shrewd  forecast, 
sturdy  common  sense ;  sparing  of  words,  yet  a  master  of  terse,  homely 
English ;  simple  and  frugal  in  his  habits,  but  charitable  and  hospitable  in 
an  unusual  degree.     He  was  one  of  John  Pierpont's  parishioners,  at  Hollis- 
Street  Church,  vigorously  taking  his  part  in  the  bitter  conflict  with  the 
rum-selling  and  pro-slavery  element  of  the  congregation.     Afterwards  he 
rendered  similar  services  to  Theodore  Parker. 


;ET.  29. J  GEORGE   THOMPSON.  455 

We  return  to  Mr.  Garrison,  who  had  still  one  powerful  CHAP.XIII. 
shaft  in  his  quiver  —  the  direct  application  of  anti-slavery  Ig^4. 
sentiment  to  the  making  and  unmaking  of  political  for 
tunes.  At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  American  Coloni 
zation  Society  in  Washington  in  January,  1834,  the  Rev. 
Leonard  Bacon  charged  the  leaders  of  the  anti-slavery 
movement  with  "  a  design  to  make  it  a  political  party.  I  Lib.  4 : 22. 
have,"  he  continued,  "  reason  to  believe  they  mean  to 
make  adhesion  to  their  sentiments  a  test  of  office.  And 
there  will  not  be  wanting  political  desperadoes  who  are 
willing  to  be  arrayed  under  that  banner."  He  was  more 
correct  in  his  prediction  than  in  his  choice  of  terms.  On 
the  28th  of  October  following,  Mr.  Abbott  Lawrence,  the  Lib.  4: 178. 
Whig  candidate  for  Congress  in  the  First  District  of 
Massachusetts,  was  honored  with  a  letter  from  sundry 
citizens  and  voters  of  that  district  (among  whom  we 
remark,  together  with  Sewall,  Loring,  Child,  and  other 
officers  of  the  New  England  Anti-Slavery  Society,  Francis 
Jackson),  asking  his  attention  to  slavery  and  the  slave 
trade  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  calling  for  an 
expression  of  his  sentiments  on  this  subject.  No  pledge 
was  exacted  of  Mr.  Lawrence,  but  he  was  urged  to  aid  in 
the  early  suppression  of  this  national  iniquity,  and  a 
plain  intimation  was  given  that  upon  his  sentiments 
about  it  would  depend  the  political  support  of  the  sub 
scribers. 

Mr.  Lawrence,  in  reply,   admitted  slavery  to  be  (as    NiUs'Regis- 
in    the    language   of   his    interrogators)   the    "  greatest 
moral  question  that  has  ever  been  presented  to  the  peo 
ple  of  this  country,"  and,  in  his  own  opinion,  "  not  less 
important  in  a  political  point  of  view."     He  promised  to 
make  a  careful  examination  of  his  duty,  but  must  go  to 
Congress  unpledged  and  untrammelled.     This  response 
did  not  satisfy  Mr.  Garrison,  who,  on  printing  the  cor 
respondence  in  the  I/iberator,  said  he  preferred  to  give 
his  influence  in  favor  of  Amasa  Walker  (an  outspoken    Lib.  4 : 179. 
abolitionist).     He  did  more,  he  gave  him  his  vote  —  the     Lib.  4:203. 
one  political  vote  of  his  lifetime ;  and  after  the  election 


456  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARKISON. 

CHAP.  xiii.  had  gone  as  it  could  only  go  at  that  anti- Republican 
1834  epoch  in  Massachusetts,  he  took  the  colored  voters  of 
the  district  to  task  for  having  supported  Abbott  Law 
rence.  He  had,  he  said,  never  attempted  to  bias  their 
minds  on  any  points,  religious  or  political.  He  had 
avoided  their  special  meetings  in  order  to  leave  them 
independent.  He  had  no  political  bias  in  his  present 
reprimand.  He  belonged  to  no  party  in  particular,  but 
to  all  in  general ;  he  was  not  deceived  or  influenced  by 
names,  but  governed  by  principles.  National  politics 
were  now  corrupt,  prescriptive,  and  ferocious.  He  cor 
dially  detested  Jacksonism  in  principle  and  practice, 
"  nor,"  added  Mr.  Garrison,  "  do  I  think  much  better  of 
its  antagonist,  Whiggism.  The  organs  of  each  are  marked 
for  their  slander,  vituperation,  and  baseness."  The  Whig 
party  the  colored  voters  "  should  dread  and  oppose  more 
than  any  other."  It  was  in  close  alliance  with  the  South, 
and  had  incited  all  the  pro-slavery  mobs  of  the  past 
summer  through  its  presses,  the  New  York  Courier  and 
Enquirer  and  Commercial  Advertiser,  the  Philadelphia 
Inquirer,  the  Washington  Intelligencer,  the  Boston  Com 
mercial  Gazette.  Whigs,  with  Henry  Clay  at  their  head, 
were  the  leaders  in  the  colonization  crusade.  They  had 
made  a  cat's-paw  of  the  colored  voters,  who  thus  only 
incurred  Democratic  hatred  for  nothing. 

Lib.  4:207.  Later,  Mr.  Garrison,  on  being  remonstrated  with  for 
these  admonitions,  gave  warning  that  slavery  was  going 
to  be  made  a  political  question  :  "  The  IMMEDIATE  EMAN 
CIPATION  of  the  slaves  in  the  District  of  Columbia  and 
the  Territories  is  to  be  made  A  TEST  AT  THE  BALLOT- 
BOXES,  in  the  choice  of  representatives  in  Congress n ; 
and  "  no  man  who  is  a  slaveholder  will  receive  the  votes 
of  conscientious  and  consistent  abolitionists  for  any 
station  in  the  gift  of  the  people  —  especially  for  the 
Presidency  of  the  United  States."  * 

1  This  was  in  'full  accord  with  the  official  views  of  the  New  England 
Anti-Slavery  Society,  witness  the  following  extract  from  the  third  annual 
report,  Jan.  21,  1835  (by  S.  E.  Sewall) :  "But  while,  in  voting  for  candi- 


^ET.  29.]  GEORGE   THOMPSON.  457 

Towards  the  close  of  the  year,  fresh  expostulations  CHAP.XIII. 
with  Mr.  Garrison  for  his  so-called  harsh  and  sweeping        ^ 
language  began  to  be  heard.     It  afflicted  not  only  the    Lib.  4:207. 
recognized  apologists  for  slavery  "much  more  grievously     Lib.  4:  u. 
than  the  daring  transgression  of  the  Southern  kidnap 
pers,  or  the  wrongs  and  sufferings  of  our  immense  slave 
population/'  but  also  natures  like  Follen,  whose  first 
speech  on  the  anti-slavery  platform  especially  deprecated 
intemperate  language  and  personal  abuse  (videlicet  Mr.     £#.4:42. 
Garrison's)  5    or  like   Stuart,  who,  on   learning  of   Miss 
Benson's  betrothal,  bade  her  write  her  lover  that  "the     MS.^me 
only  jangle  of  words  we  ever  had  together  was  when  I    H^E.^.to 
cautioned  him  on  the  severity  of  his  language ;  remind      w-  L-  °- 
him  of  my  advice,  and  tell  him  not  to  forget  it."     Simi 
larly,  Lewis   Tappan  wrote  from  New  York  to  George        MS. 
Thompson,  on  January  2,  1835 :  "  The  fact  need  not  be 
concealed  from  you  that  several  of  our  emancipationists 
so  disapprove  of  the  harsh  and,  as  they  think,  the  un 
christian  language  of  the  Liberator,  that  they  do  not  feel 
justified  in  upholding  it.     For  one,  I  have  abstained  from 
mentioning  this  to  our  friend  Garrison,  and  have  vindi 
cated  him  so  far  as  I  could.     Mr.  G.'s  error,  they  say,  is  in 
applying  severe  epithets  to  individuals  rather  than  to 
bodies  of  men  and  principles"    Short  memories,  that  had 
forgotten  the  cause  of   Mr.  Garrison's  imprisonment  in 
Baltimore,  and  the  "  severe  epithets  "  applied  to  Francis 
Todd,  and  the  covering  of  "  thick  infamy "  which  the 
junior  editor  of  the  Genius  held  ready  for  any  Northerner 
guilty  of  complicity  with  slaveholding  —  and  all  that  had 
come  of  it !     No  wonder  if  Mr.  Garrison's  patience  was 
tried,  and  that  he  once  more  defended  himself  in  his 

dates  to  offices  in  which  the  persons  elected  are  likely  to  be  called  on  to  act 
on  important  questions  in  regard  to  slavery,  it  is  earnestly  recommended 
to  abolitionists  to  support  those  only  in  whose  principles  they  can  confide; 
the  Managers  would  caution  their  friends  against  making  anti-slavery 
opinions  the  test  of  qualification  for  other  offices,  where  similar  questions 
cannot  .arise.  Thus,  though  no  representative  to  Congress  should  be  sup 
ported  who  is  not  in  favor  of  abolishing  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia, 
•  it  would  be  most  unjust  and  absurd  to  refuse  to  support  a  person  for  a 
municipal  office  unless  he  held  the  same  opinions"  (p.  16). 


458  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAKKISON.  [^T.  29. 

CHAP.  xiii.   fourth  article  vindicating  James  G.  Birney  against  the 

!834.         African  Repository.     Recalling  his  words  on  this  subject 

in  the  very  first  number  of  the  Liberator,  he  continued : 

Lib.  4 : 207.  "  The  above  was  written  four  years  ago.  At  that  time,  there 
was  scarcely  a  man  in  all  the  land  who  dared  to  peep  or  mutter 
on  the  subject  of  slavery ;  the  pulpit  and  the  press  were  dumb  ; 
no  anti-slavery  organizations  were  made ;  no  public  addresses 
were  delivered ;  no  reproofs,  no  warnings,  no  entreaties  were 
uttered  in  the  ears  of  the  people;  silence,  almost  unbroken 
silence,  prevailed  universally.  Even  the  doctrine  of  gradual 
emancipation  was  rarely  enforced  ;  and  an  indignant  essay,  in 
view  of  the  horrid  condition  of  two  millions  of  slaves,  was  an 
anomaly.  Well,  without  a  single  friend  to  stand  by  me,  without 
encouragement,  and  without  a  subscriber,  —  and  admonished 
on  all  hands  how  much  injury  I  was  doing,  —  I  commenced  the 
Liberator.  My  readers  will  bear  witness  that,  from  the  first 
number  to  the  present,  its  tone,  and  temper,  and  principles, 
have  been  unchangingly  the  same.  Now  then,  I  ask,  has 
the  cause  of  emancipation  been  injured  or  benefited  by  my 
advocacy  ? 

' "  What  has  transpired  since  the  Liberator  was  established  ?  In 
referring  to  this  subject  by  way  of  self-defence,  (and  I  am  rarely 
induced  to  say  one  word  defensively,)  they  who  accuse  me  of 
dealing  in  scandalous  accusations,  will  also  accuse  me  of  ego 
tism.  With  nc  pride  of  heart,  however,  but  with  much  confi 
dence  of  right  action,  with  much  virtuous  accusation,  and  with 
real  gratitude  to  God,  I  survey  the  past,  and  challenge  mankind 
to  produce  an  instance  in  which  the  cause  of  moral  reform,  sur 
rounded  by  equal  difficulties  and  dangers,  has  advanced  more 
rapidly  than  the  present.  In  seizing  '  the  trump  of  God,'  I  had 
indeed  to  blow  '  a  jarring  blast '  —  but  it  was  necessary  to  wake 
up  a  nation  then  slumbering  in  the  lap  of  moral  death.  Thanks 
be  to  God,  that  blast  was  effectual :  it  pierced  the  ears  of  the 
deaf,  it  startled  the  lethargic  from  their  criminal  sleep,  and  it 
shook  the  land  as  a  leaf  is  shaken  by  the  wind.  Within  four 
years,  I  have  seen  my  principles  embraced,  cordially  and  un 
alterably,  by  thousands  of  the  best  men  in  the  nation.  I  have 
seen  hundreds  of  anti -slavery  societies  organized  on  the  princi 
ple  of  immediate  emancipation.  I  have  seen  prejudices  which 
were  deemed  incurable,  utterly  eradicated  from  the  breasts  of  a 
great  multitude.  I  have  seen  national  and  State  anti-slavery 
conventions  assembled  in  solemn  deliberation,  and  a  national 


^ET.  29.]  GEOKGE   THOMPSON.  459 

anti-slavery  society  established,  with  a  host  of  auxiliaries.  I  have  CHAP.  XIII. 
seen  the  press  teeming  with  books,  pamphlets,  tracts,  and  peri-  ^ 
odicals,  all  in  favor  of  the  bondman  and  against  his  oppressor. 
I  have  seen  crowds  rushing  to  hear  the  tale  of  wo  and  of 
blood,  and  to  learn  how  they  might  assist  in  saving  their  country 
from  impending  ruin.  I  have  seen  the  Christian  sympathies 
and  generous  assistance  of  a  foreign  nation  secured  in  behalf  of 
universal  emancipation.  I  have  seen  discussions  of  slavery 
going  on  in  public  and  private,  in  popular  gatherings  and  in 
domestic  circles,  among  all  classes,  and  in  all  parts  of  the  land ; 
and  more  spoken,  and  written,  and  printed,  and  circulated,  in 
one  month,  than  there  formerly  was  in  many  years.  I  have 
seen  many  beneficent  schemes  devised  for  the  protection  and 
improvement  of  the  colored  population  of  the  free  States.  I 
have  seen  that  population  rising  rapidly  in  the  scale  of  civiliza 
tion,  and  manifesting  in  the  midst  of  terrible  persecutions  a 
spirit  of  forgiveness  and  patience,  and  a  steadfastness  of  trust 
in  God,  worthy  of  angels.  I  have  seen  a  mighty  combination, 
formed  for  the  expatriation  of  a  guiltless  people,  shorn  of  its 
strength,  and  brought  down  to  the  earth.  I  have  seen  Christian 
believers  everywhere  assembling  in  monthly  convocations,  to 
pray  for  the  deliverance  of  the  poor  and  needy,  the  helpless 
and  oppressed,  from  the  rod  and  the  chains  of  slavery.  In 
short,  I  have  seen  persons  of  all  political  parties,  of  all  religious 
sects,  of  all  ages  and  conditions,  uniting  in  one  vast  phalanx, 
with  the  cry  of  LIBERTY  upon  their  lips,  and  the  banner  of  IM 
MEDIATE  EMANCIPATION  waving  over  their  heads,  and  moving 
onward  to  the  conflict  in  unbroken  array  —  deterred  by  no 
peril,  weakened  by  no  attack,  diverted  by  no  stratagem —  „ 
courageous,  invincible,  victorious ! 

"  If  God  has  made  me  a  signal  instrument  in  the  accomplish 
ment  of  this  astonishing  change,  it  is  not  for  me  to  glory,  but 
to  be  thankful.  What  else  but  the  Liberator  primarily,  (and  of 
course  instrumental^, )  has  effected  this  change1?  Greater  * 
success  than  I  have  had,  no  man  could  reasonably  desire,  or 
humbly  expect.  Greater  success  no  man  could  obtain,  perad- 
venture,  without  endangering  his  reliance  upon  an  almighty 
arm. 

"  Yet,  in  view  of  these  instructive  events,  the  same  '  cuckoo 
cry '  is  raised  against  me  now  as  I  heard  when  I  stood  forth 
alone  j  and  the  same  sagacious  predictions  and  grave  admoni 
tions  are  uttered  now  as  were  then  spoken  with  the  infallibility 
of  ignorance,  the  disinterestedness  of  cowardice,  and  the  pru- 


460  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON.  [^T.  29. 


CHAP.  XIII.  dence  of  imbecility.  There  are  many  calling  themselves  anti- 
j^T  slavery  men  who,  because  they  are  only  f  half  -fledged  ' 

themselves,  and  have  neither  the  strength  nor  the  courage  to 
soar,  must  needs  flutter  and  scream  because  my  spirit  will  not 
stoop  in  its  flight  heavenward,  and  come  down  to  their  filthy 
nest.  It  has  gone,  it  is  going  upward,  with  a  strong  and  steady 
wing,  and  it  shall  neither  sink  nor  rest  until  it  reach  an  eternal 
dwelling-place. 

"  To  those  who,  with  more  labor  than  profit,  and  more  cap- 
tiousness  than  courage,  in  secret  prepare,  and  anonymously 
send,  grave  indictments  of  my  language,  I  will  once  for  all 
remark,  that  they  cannot  possibly  write  their  pieces  with  more 
complacency  than  I  read  them  j  that  I  am  ever  ready  to  pub 
lish  any  of  their  strictures  j  that  I  do  not  aim  at  the  graces  of 
composition  ;  and  that,  so  long  as  they  only  impeach  my  words, 
and  acknowledge  the  soundness  of  my  principles,  I  shall  not  be 
specially  troubled  in  spirit,  nor  be  induced  to  engage  in  a  con 
test  which  must  be  confessedly  a  '  wordy  '  one.  To  quarrel  with 
my  style  is  only  to  dispute  my  taste  —  and  where  is  the 
standard  of  taste  ?  —  but  to  accuse  me  of  holding  corrupt  and 
dangerous  principles  is  a  question  of  morality.  My  language 
may  not  be,  and  I  am  sure  is  not,  always  happily  chosen  ;  but 
let  it  be  remembered  that  I  usually  and  necessarily,  as  an  editor, 
write  in  great  haste,  and  cannot  remodel  and  criticise  ad 
libitum.  Such  errors,  however,  are  trivial,  to  which  every 
writer  is  liable.  To  carp  at  my  composition,  and  yet  confess 
the  justness  of  my  principles,  as  many  do,  is  very  much  like 
sneering  at  the  black  man  on  account  of  his  complexion,  and 
yet  conceding  that  he  has  all  the  marks  and  attributes  of  man 
hood.  Fine  and  delicate  phraseology  may  please  the  ear  ;  but 
masculine  truths  are  utterly  divorced  from  effeminate  words, 
and  cannot  be  united  without  begetting  a  dwarfish  progeny. 

"  This  long  episode,  in  the  present  review,  is  not  without  a 
pertinent  application.  It  can  easily  be  determined  whether 
there  is  any  sincerity  or  justness  in  the  charge,  so  confidently 
and  so  incessantly  made,  that  I  am  retarding  the  cause  (i.  e.,  the 
principles)  of  emancipation  by  my  '  hard  language?  Of  those  who 
say  that  they  like  my  principles,  but  object  to  my  language,  I 
would  inquire,  How  do  you  know  my  principles  but  by  my 
language?  Now,  every  writer's  style  is  his  own  —  it  maybe 
smooth  or  rough,  plain  or  obscure,  simple  or  grand,  feeble  or 
strong  —  but  principles  are  immutable.  There  are  many  able 
writers  and  advocates  in  the  ranks  of  abolitionists,  and  they  all 


.  29.] 


GEORGE  THOMPSON. 


461 


agree  in  principle,  but  differ  essentially  in  their  manner  of 
writing.  WHITTIER,  for  instance,  is  highly  poetical,  exuber 
ant  and  beautiful.  STUART  is  solemn,  pungent  and  severe. 
WRIGHT  is  a  thorough  logician,  dextrous,  transparent,  straight 
forward.  BERIAH  GREEN  is  manly,  eloquent,  vigorous,  devo 
tional.  MAY  is  persuasive,  zealous,  overflowing  with  the  milk 
of  human  kindness.  Cox  is  diffusive,  sanguine,  magnificent, 
grand.  BOURNE  thunders  and  lightens.  PHELPS  is  one  great, 
clear,  infallible  argument — demonstration  itself.  JOCELYN  is 
full  of  heavenly-mindedness,  and  feels  and  speaks  and  acts 
with  l  a  zeal  according  to  knowledge.'  FOLLEN  is  chaste, 
profound,  and  elaborately  polished.  GOODELL  is  perceptive, 
analytical,  expert  and  solid.  CHILD  (David  L.)  is  generously 
indignant,  courageous,  and  demonstrative.  His  lady  combines 
strength  with  beauty,  argumentation  with  persuasiveness, 
greatness  with  humility.  BIRNEY  is  collected,  courteous,  dis 
passionate —  his  fearlessness  excites  admiration,  his  conscien 
tiousness  commands  respect. 

"  Of  the  foregoing  list,  who  is  viewed  with  complacency,  or 
preferred  over  another,  by  slaveholders  or  their  apologists'? 
Are  not  all  their  names  cast  out  as  evil?  Are  they  not  all 
branded  as  fanatics,  disorganizes  and  madmen  ?  Has  not  one 
of  them  (Dr.  Cox)  had  his  dwelling  and  meeting-house  rudely 
and  riotously  assaulted,  and  even  been  hunted  in  the  streets  of 
New  York  ?  Has  not  another  (Beriah  Green)  been  burnt  in 
effigy  in  the  city  of  Utica  ?  (To  say  nothing  of  the  sufferings 
and  persecutions  of  ARTHUR  and  LEWIS  TAPPAN,  and  other 
individuals.)  Why  are  they  thus  maltreated  and  calumniated a? 
Certainly,  not  for  the  phraseology  which  they  use,  but  for  the 
principles  which  they  adopt.  Are  they  not  all  tauntingly 
stigmatized  as  f  Garrison-men '  ?  As  soon  as  any  man  becomes 
hostile  to  colonization,  and  friendly  to  abolition,  is  he  not  at 
once  recognized  and  stamped  by  the  enemy  as  a  Garrisonite  ? 
Then  how  can  it  be  averred  that  it  is  my  language  that  gives 
offence,  seeing  that  it  is  only  my  principles  that  offend  f  .  .  . 

"  In  concluding  this  number  I  will  venture  to  remind  those 
liberal  advisers  who  are  so  anxious  to  keep  a  censorship  over 
the  Liberator,  that  reproaches,  falsehoods,  misrepresentations 
and  injuries  are  heaped  upon  my  head  in  every  quarter  —  I 
am  at  the  mercy  of  despiteful,  wicked  and  cruel  men;  but 
which  of  these  advisers  cares  for  the  treatment  I  receive,  or 
stands  forth  to  vindicate  me  on  the  score  of  principle  J?  Will 
they  soberly  and  honestly  inquire  of  themselves  whether  they 


J.  G.  Whit- 
tier. 
C.  Stuart. 

Elizur 
Wright,  Jr. 

Rev.  S.  J. 

May. 
Rev.  S.  H. 

Cox. 

Rev.  G. 

Bourne. 

Rev.  A.  A. 

Phelps. 
Rev.  S.  S. 

Jocelyn. 
Rev.  C.  Fal 
len. 
Wm. 
Goodell. 
L.  M.  Child. 

J.  G.Birney. 


Lib.  4 :  114. 
Lib.  4 : 23. 


462 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKRISON. 


CHAP.  XIII. 
1834. 


Lib.  4:71, 
86 ;  ante, 
p.  441. 


Lib.  4 : 97, 
103. 


Memoir  of 

H. Ware, Jr., 

P-  365. 


think,  or  speak,  or  write,  half  as  much  against  a  bloody, 
polluted  and  soul-destroying  system  as  against  my  'hard 
language '  ?  whether  they  feel  indignant  when  they  see  false 
accusations  brought  against  me,  and  take  up  the  pen  in  my 
defence  ?  As  for  myself,  I  deem  it,  with  the  apostle,  a  small 
thing  to  be  judged  of  man's  judgment.  I  solicit  no  man's 
praise — I  fear  no  man's  censure." 

The  allusion  to  a  censorship  over  the  Liberator  leads 
us  to  a  new  phase  of  opposition  to  its  editor.  We  find 
the  Rev.  Henry  Ware,  Jr.'s,  name  subscribed  with  Pro 
fessor  Follen's  to  the  call  for  the  New  England  Conven 
tion  of  Anti-Slavery  Societies,  and  presently  among  the 
committee  on  the  address  to  the  people  of  New  England. 
Later  still,  lie  addressed  the  newly  formed  Cambridge 
Anti-Slavery  Society,  and  joined  in  the  general  prudent 
assertion  of  that  body's  independence  of  the  New  Eng 
land  Society,  and  in  general  reprobation  of  intemperate 
language.  A  few  months  afterwards  (Cambridge,  Octo 
ber  15,  1834),  in  a  letter  to  his  fellow  Unitarian,  S.  J. 
May,  a  man  with  a  large  gift  of  humor,  Mr.  Ware  made 
the  following  highly  amusing  proposition  : 

"  One  point  on  which  I  wished  to  talk  with  you  when  here 
was,  the  character  of  the  Iterator.  If  you  sympathize  with  it, 
and  approve  wholly  of  its  spirit,  it  would  be  in  vain  to  say  to 
you  what  I  wish.  But  if  not,  if  you  feel  how  objectionable  is  its 
tone,  how  frequently  unchristian  its  spirit,  and  how  seriously  it 
prejudices  a  great  cause  in  the  minds  of  many  good  men  ;  then 
you  will  be  ready  to  hear  my  question  —  a  question  which  has 
been  agitated  amongst  a  few  of  us  here,  viz.:  Would  it  be 
possible  to  induce  six  or  seven  gentlemen,  of  calm  and  trust 
worthy  judgment,  to  form  themselves  into  a  committee,  each 
of  whom  should,  a  week  at  a  time,  examine  all  articles  intended 
for  the  Liberator,  and  induce  Mr.  Garrison  to  promise  to  publish 
nothing  there  which  should  not  have  been  approved  by  them  ? 
Is  this  possible  ?  Would  it  not  secure  an  unexceptionable  paper, 
without  injuring  Mr.  Garrison's  interest?  Would  you  be  willing 
to  aid  in  promoting  such  a  scheme  —  or  can  you  suggest  a  bet 
ter  ?  Pray  answer  these  questions  at  your  first  convenience." 

The  real  object  of  the  Cambridge  Anti-Slavery  Society 
and  the  natural  fate  of  this  robust  organization  are  set 


JET.  29.] 


GEOEGE   THOMPSON. 


463 


forth  in  a  letter  from  Mr.  Ware  to  a  friend  who  still  CHAP.XIII. 
thought  he  had  not  sufficiently  demonstrated  his  want  of        1?JJ4. 
connection  with   the  Boston  abolitionists.     It  is  dated 
Cambridge,  October  23,  1835  —  a  year  later  than   the 
foregoing : 


Memoir,  pp. 
366,  367. 


"  When  I  saw  how  outrageously  Garrison  and  some  others 
were  abusing  this  great  cause,  mismanaging  it  by  their  unrea 
sonable  violence,  and  by  what  I  thought  unchristian  language, 
and  a  convention  was  proposed  in  Massachusetts,  I  joined  a  few 
gentlemen  in  Cambridge l  in  an  association  for  the  purpose  of 
inquiring  whether  something  might  not  be  done  to  moderate 
the  tone  they  were  using,  and  prevent  the  mischief  which  we 
thought  likely  to  ensue.  We  were  foolish  enough  to  imagine 
that  we  might  possibly  exert  some  favorable  influence.  We 
attempted  it,  and  of  course  we  failed ;  for  all  who  know  Mr. 
Garrison  know  that  he  is  not  a  man  to  be  controlled  or  advised. 
Our  Society  lived  about  a  year,  and  has  now  virtually  expired. 
I  never  belonged  to  any  other.  I  have  attended  but  four  anti- 
slavery  meetings,  three  in  Boston  and  one  in  Cambridge.  I 
have  never  had  any  acquaintance  with  Thompson,  who,  I 
thought,  had  no  business  in  the  country;2  only  a  speaking 
acquaintance  with  Garrison  j  and  I  was  never  in  the  Anti- 
Slavery  rooms  but  once." 

Fresh  from  the  inspiration  of  the  Philadelphia  Conven 
tion  of  December,  1833,  Mr.  May  appears  to  have  made  an  Memoir  of 

7  Henry  Ware, 

earnest  effort  to  win  over  to  the  cause  the  leading  clergy     Jr., p.  365. 
of  his  own  denomination.     The  adhesion  of  Follen,  if  so 

1  Twenty-three  in  number,  most  if  not  all  Unitarians.     The  first  four 
names  on  the  list  were  Henry  Ware,  Sidney  Willard,  Charles  Follen,  H. 
Ware,  Jr.     Further  on  came  W.  H.  Channing,  Charles  T.  Brooks,  Fred 
erick  H.  Hedge,  etc.  (see  the  preamble  and  Constitution  in  A.  B.  Muzzey's 
'  Reminiscences  and  Memorials,'  p.  294). 

2  So  thought  the  Unitarian  Christian  Register,  which  spoke  of  Thompson 
as  "an  itinerate  foreigner,"  and  doubted  the  wisdom  of  enlisting  him  (Lib. 
4:179).      Mr.  Ware's  letter  was  written  two  days  after  the  Boston  mob 
intended  for  Thompson,  and  is  perhaps  the  mildest  commentary  on  that 
outrage  to  be  found  in  print.     "  You  are  correct,"  writes  Mr.  Garrison  to 
G.  W.   Benson,  Sept.  4,  1835;    "those  religious  persons  and  papers  that 
denounce  our  brother  George  Thompson   as  a  foreigner,  are  virtually 
rebuking  every  foreign  missionary  who  has  been  sent  from  our  shores  to 
evangelize  a  rebellious  world ;  and  they  will  find,  ere  long,  that  infidelity 
will  meet  and  vanquish  them  with  their  own  weapons." 


464 


WILLIAM   LLOYD    GARRISON. 


[JET.  29. 


CHAP.  XIII. 
1834. 


Lib.  4 :  165, 
47- 


MS.  in  pos 
session  of 
Dr.  W.  F. 
Channing, 
Providence, 
R.  I. 


brought  about,  was  a  sufficient  return  for  his  labor ;  but 
elsewhere  he  encountered  timidity,  as  in  the  case  of  Pro 
fessor  Ware,  or  antipathy,  as  in  the  case  of  Professor 
Palfrey,  or  virulence,  as  in  the  case  of  Dr.  Gannett.  It 
was  perhaps  at  his  instigation  that  Mr.  Garrison  ad 
dressed  the  following  stirring  appeal  to  the  greatest 
light  of  the  Unitarian  world,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Channing : 

W.  L.  Garrison  to  William  Ellery  Channing. 

BOSTON,  January  20,  1834. 

REV.  AND  DEAR  SIR  :  I  have  taken  the  liberty  to  send  you  a 
few  anti-slavery  publications,  the  perusal  of  which,  by  you,  I 
shall  esteem  a  noble  recompense.  Let  me  invite  your  atten 
tion  particularly  to  the  Lectures  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Phelps,  which 
cover  the  whole  ground  of  controversy,  and  which  I  deem 
unanswerable. 

Guilty  as  it  is,  there  is  yet  hope  for  this  nation.  There  are 
more  than  seven  thousand  men  who  have  not  bowed  the  knee 
to  Baal.  The  slumber  of  half  a  century  has  been  broken  up, 
and  henceforth  there  is  to  be  no  repose  until  the  monster 
SLAVERY  be  slain.  The  deaf  begin  to  hear,  and  the  blind  to 
see.  The  weak  are  made  valiant,  and  the  timid  strengthened 
through  faith  in  the  promises  of  Him  who  is  pledged  to  "  main 
tain  the  cause  of  the  afflicted  and  the  right  of  the  poor."  The 
noise  of  the  conflict  is  already  like  the  voice  of  many  waters. 
Truth  is  going  on  from  conquering  to  conquer.  The  mystery 
of  iniquity,  alias  the  American  Colonization  Society,  is  now 
stripped  of  its  disguise,  and  seen  in  its  naked  deformity.  There 
is  hope  for  the  nation. 

It  is  true,  not  many,  mighty  have  as  yet  been  called  to  this 
sacred  strife.  Like  every  other  great  reform,  it  has  been 
CQmmenced  by  obscure  and  ignorant  men.  It  is  God's  mode, 
commonly,  to  choose  the  foolish  things  of  the  world  to  con 
found  the  wise  ;  because  his  foolishness  is  wiser  than  men,  and 
his  weakness  stronger  than  men.  In  having  entered  early  into 
this  great  cause,  I  arrogate  not  to  myself  any  superior  wisdom 
or  goodness.  Some  providential  circumstances  turned  my 
attention  to  it;  and  humble  as  I  was,  I  feared  my  God  too 
much,  and  hated  the  base  plunderers  of  my  species  too  cor 
dially,  and  pitied  the  poor  bleeding  slaves  too  sincerely,  to 
shrink  even  single-handed  from  a  conflict  with  the  enemies  of 


JEi.  29.]  GEOEGE   THOMPSON.  465 

justice  and  humanity.    I  then  told  the  American  slaveholders   CHAP.  XII I. 
that  they  should  hear  me,  of  me,  and  from  me,  in  a  tone  and         l^4 
with  a  frequency  that  should  make  them  tremble  —  not  that  I 
was  the  enemy  of  their  happiness  or  safety,  but  that  I  detested 
their  crimes.     How  faithful  I  have  been  in  the  performance  of 
my  pledge,  a  quickened,  an  astonished,  and  a  repenting  nation 
may  testify.     Ridiculed,  reviled,   threatened,  persecuted  and 
imprisoned,   still    God   has   wonderfully  blessed   my  humble 
labors.     I  give  him  all  the  glory  —  I  sink  myself  into  nothing 
ness. 

In  a  cause  like  this,  there  are  two  things  to  be  remembered — 
1st,  that  a  tremendous  responsibility  rests  upon  him  who  per 
verts  his  influence ;  and  2nd,  that  an  equally  fearful  respon 
sibility  rests  upon  him  ivho  withholds  his  influence.  Why  should  a 
Christian,  however  distinguished,  wait  for  the  movements  of  a 
concurrent  populace  before  he  espouse  the  side  of  the  outraged 
and  guiltless  slaves?  That  which  claims  the  sympathy  and 
attention  of  Jehovah  of  hosts,  is  not  beneath  the  dignity  of  his 
creatures.  That  which  has  elicited  the  best  efforts  of  a  Wilber- 
force,  a  Clarkson,  a  Pitt,  a  Fox,  a  Brougham,  and  a  Buxton,  is 
neither  trivial  nor  despicable. 

I  thought  of  beseeching  you,  in  this  letter,  to  exert  your 
victorious  influence  for  the  deliverance  of  this  country  from 
impending  ruin.  But  if  the  slaughter  of  two  millions  of  victims 
who  have  gone  down  to  their  graves  with  their  chains  around 
them ;  if  the  cries  of  more  than  that  number  of  tortured  slaves 
now  living ;  if  a  soil  red  with  innocent  blood  ;  if  a  desecrated 
Sabbath  ;  if  a  vast  system  of  adultery,  and  pollution,  and  rob 
bery  ;  if  perpetuated  ignorance  and  legalized  barbarity  j  if  the 
invasion  of  the  dearest  rights  of  man,  and  a  disruption  of  the 
holiest  ties  of  life ;  and,  above  all,  if  the  clear  and  imperious 
injunctions  of  the  most  high  God,  fail  to  stimulate  you  to  plead 
for  the  suffering  and  the  dumb,  it  is  scarcely  possible  that  any 
appeal  can  succeed  from 

Yours,  most  affectionately  and  respectfully, 

WM.  LLOYD  GARRISON. 
Rev.  Dr.  Channing. 

It  is  not  known  that  any  answer  was  ever  returned 
to  this  letter  by  its  recipient.  Professor  Ware,  in  the 
letter  to  Mr.  May  already  cited,  remarks:  "Dr.  Chan-  Ante.p.efa. 
ning  is  said  to  have  given  on  Sunday  [October  12, 1834] 
a  most  powerful  sermon  on  the  late  public  commotions 
VOL.  I.— 30 


466  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON.  [^T.  29. 

CHAP.  xiii.   at  Charlestown,1  New  York,  and  Harvard  College.  .  .  . 
!8^4.        Dr.  Follen  calls  it  an  abolition  sermon."    One  who  heard 

Lib.  4:188.  it  wrote  that  Channing  had  come  out  an  abolitionist. 
" i  Property  in  man  !  property  in  man ! '  he  [the  preacher] 
exclaimed,  '  you  may  claim  matter  as  property  to  any 
extent  you  please — the  earth,  the  ocean,  and  the  planets  ; 
but  you  cannot  touch  a  soul.  I  can  as  readily  conceive 
of  the  angels  in  Heaven  being  property,  as  man.'"  Mr. 

MS.  Nov.  May  was  not  so  credulous.  "  What  am  I  to  believe 
respecting  Dr.  Channing  1  Has  he  indeed  taken  the 
position  of  a  real  abolitionist?  Or  has  he  only  denounced 
slavery  in  the  abstract  ?  I  wish  he  could  have  an  oppor 
tunity  to  converse  with  Thompson." 

Dr.  Channing's  wish  would  have  been  anything  but 
that  —  anything,  except  to  meet  Mr.  Garrison  himself. 
His  failure  to  acknowledge  the  latter's  appeal  was  per 
haps  owing  to  sickness.2  There  was,  however,  nothing 
in  Dr.  Channing's  physical  or  mental  constitution  to 
make  him  anxious  to  exchange  views  with  the  arch- 
agitator.  He  had  lived  in  the  midst  of  slavery  (in  Vir 
ginia)  at  an  age  when  his  humanity  should  have  been 
tender  and  sensitive  to  cruelty ;  mature  and  a  clergyman 
he  witnessed  it  in  the  West  Indies  ;  it  was  still  two  years 
after  Mr.  Garrison  had  in  vain  besought  him  to  cast  in 
the  weight  of  his  mighty  influence  with  the  despised 
abolitionists,  before  he  put  forth  his  little  work  on 
'  Slavery/  which  finished  his  reputation  at  the  South  as 
completely  as  if  he  had  accepted  the  presidency  of  an 

1  The  burning  of  the  Ursuline  Convent.    (See  above,  p.  448.)    Rumors  of 
a  retaliatory  attack  on  Harvard  College  caused  a  defensive  organization 
there. 

2  March  13,  1834,  Mr.  Garrison  wrote  to  G.  W.  Benson:  "Sickness  pre 
vented  the  Rev.  Dr.  Channing  from  being  present  at  our  meeting  [of  the 
New  England  A.  S.  Society  in  the  Tremont  Temple,  March  10]  ;  otherwise  we 
should  in  all  probability  have  had  a  speech  from  him.     I  understand  he 
fully  agrees  with  us  on  the  great  question  of  immediate  emancipation.'' 
In  July,  Dr.  Channing  was  accounting  for  the  New  York  riots  by  the  "  fatal 
mistake"  of  the  abolition  watchword  "immediate."     (See  p.  531  of  the 
centenary  edition  of  his  Life.)    In  the  fall,  Mr.  May  was  still  laboring  with 
him  to  reconcile  him  to  the  word  and  the  idea.     (See  pp.  170-185  of  his 
'Recollections,'  and  pp.  528-536  of  the  Life  just  cited.) 


^T.  29. J  GEOKGE   THOMPSON.  467 

anti-slavery  society.     Meantime,  his  sermon  had  made 

the  Norfolk  (Va.)  Beacon  (a  colonization  organ)  explicitly    Lib.  4: 193. 

give  him  up  as  ranged  under  the  banners  of  Garrison. 

In  this  year  1834  now  passing  from  view,  the  Ameri 
can  nativity  of  the  editor  of  the  Liberator  was  first 
doubted  and  denied.  His  deep  feeling  for  Newburyport, 
not  smothered  by  a  later  attachment  (also  of  the  deepest) 
for  his  adopted  city,  Boston,  found  expression  in  the  fol 
lowing  sonnet : 

Whether  a  persecuted  child  of  thine  Lib.  4 : 15 ; 

Thou  deign  to  own,  my  lovely  native  place!  Writings^/ 

In  characters  that  time  can  not  efface,  p.  173.  ' 

Thy  worth  is  graved  upon  this  heart  of  mine. 
Forsake  me  not  in  anger,  nor  repine 

That  with  this  nation  I  am  in  disgrace: 

From  ruthless  bondage  to  redeem  my  race, 
And  save  my  country,  is  my  great  design. 
How  much  soe'er  my  conduct  thou  dost  blame, 

(For  Hate  and  Calumny  belie  my  course,) 
My  labors  shall  not  sully  thy  fair  fame; 

But  they  shall  be  to  thee  a  fountain- source 
Of  joyfulness  hereafter  —  when  my  name 

Shall  e'en  from  tyrants  a  high  tribute  force. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


THE  BOSTON  MOB  (FIRST  STAGE). — 1835. 


CHAP^XIV. 
1835. 


MS.  Dec.  3, 
1834,  Arnold 

Buffum  to 
B.  C.  Bacon. 


A  LWAYS  the  opening  year  brought  fresh  anxiety 
_x\_  to  the  editor  of  the  Liberator.  January,  1835, 
found  him  hampered  with  the  expenses  of  the  withdrawn 
Canterbury  suits,  and  staggering  under  the  load  of  the 
paper,  which  had  latterly  been  issued  quite  irregularly, 
though  without  a  lapse  in  the  series  : 


MS.  to  Geo. 
Benson. 


"  The  truth  is,"  he  wrote  to  his  father-in-law  on  January  12, 
1835,  "  we  have  been  hesitating  whether  to  stop  or  proceed 
with  it,  in  consequence  of  the  non-payment  of  our  numerous 
subscribers,  and  the  faithlessness  of  a  majority  of  our  agents; 
Jan.  9, 1835.  and  on  Friday  last  I  went  home  to  write  my  valedictory,  and 
to  advertise  the  world  of  the  downfall  of  the  Liberator  !  It  was 
truly  an  afflicting  period,  and  I  felt  as  if  I  was  about  cutting 
off  my  right  arm,  or  plucking  out  my  right  eye.  Ascertaining 
my  purpose,  several  of  my  anti-slavery  brethren  rallied 
together,  and  have  resolved  to  sustain  me  and  the  paper  if  I 
will  proceed ;  so,  hereafter,  I  trust,  you  will  get  it  regularly." 

But  now  a  new  danger  loomed  up  —  to  the  cause,  to 
its  pioneer,  and  to  his  organ.  The  disaffection  in  the 
anti-slavery  ranks  towards  Mr.  Garrison  on  account  of 
his  "  harsh  "  and  "  unchristian  "  language,  as  described 
in  the  last  chapter,  had  not  escaped  the  clerical  sup 
porters  of  the  Colonization  Society.  They  saw  in  it  the 
means,  and  the  only  means,  to  check  the  advance  of 
abolitionism,  by  breaking  down  the  editor  of  the  Liber 
ator.  To  this  end  they  craftily  devised  a  new  organiza 
tion,  with  a  title  and  with  aims  vague  enough  to  include 
everybody  who  felt  any  concern  for  the  blacks,  and  hence 

468 


MT.  30. J  THE   BOSTON   MOB. —  I.  469 

calculated  to  draw  off  from  the  bold  and  specific  agita-    Lib.  7 : 150. 
tion  of  the  abolitionists  such  of  their  number  as  deplored 
the  separation  from   colonization  philanthropy.     After 
several  months  of  incubation  and  many  announcements 
in  the  Boston  Recorder,  on  Christmas  Day,  1834,  a  call  was      Lib.  5 : 3. 
issued  through  that  journal  for  a  convention  to  form  an 
American  Union  for  the  Relief  and  Improvement  of  the 
Colored  Race,  to  be  held  in  Boston  on  January  14,  1835. 
Among  the  eight  signers  were  Joseph  Tracy  and  two 
other  editors  of  the  Recorder.     Its  postulate  was:  "  The      Lib.  5:3. 
system  of  slavery  is  wrong,  and  ought  to  be  abandoned 
with  the  least  possible  delay."     Since  not  only  "  aboli 
tionists"  but  "  Garrisonites  "  could  subscribe  to  this,  the    Lib.  5: 7,11. 
invitation  was  modified  in  season  so   as   expressly  to 
except  from  it  those  who  did  not  believe  a  new  organiza 
tion  needed  to  exert  "a  kind  moral  influence  upon  the      Lib.  3:7. 
community." 

The  Congregational  clergymen  who  were  managing 
the  convention  were  certainly  displeased  and  embarrassed, 
but  could  hardly  have  been  surprised,  by  the  appearance  Lib.  5 : 16. 
of  the  Garrisonites  asking  to  be  enrolled  as  members 
under  the  original  call.  However,  they  promptly  voted 
that  organization  should  proceed  under  the  second  call ; 
rebuked  Mr.  Thompson  for  his  impertinence  in  obtrud 
ing  himself  upon  the  meeting ;  refused  to  allow  any 
opponent  of  the  proposed  organization  to  be  heard ; 1 
and  dodged  the  question  formally  presented  by  Amos  A. 
Phelps,  Cyrus  P.  Grosvenor,  George  Thompson,  Joshua 
V.  Himes,  Ellis  Gray  Loring,  and  Mr.  Garrison,  whether 
the  organization  differed  in  principle  from  the  existing 
anti-slavery  organizations,  or  was  merely  additional  and 
cooperative.  They  ended  by  adopting  a  cut-and-dried 
constitution,  after  a  debate  in  which  motions  to  substi 
tute  "  sin  "  for  "  wrong"  in  describing  slavery,  and  tl  uni 
versally  and  immediately  "  for  "  with  the  least  possible 
delay"  in  urging  that  slavery  be  "abandoned,"  were 

i  The  Rev.  J.  S.  C.  Abbott  had  the  fairness  to  propose  that  this  courtesy 
should  be  granted. 


470  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GARRISON.  [^T.  30. 


CHAP.  xiv.  rejected  by  large  majorities.  The  Rev.  Leonard  Bacon 
1835.  was  a  spectator  of  the  closing  scenes,  but  was  not  among 
the  officers  chosen,  who  all  belonged  to  some  one  of  the 
four  Northern  New  England  States. 

Mr.  Garrison  was  cautioned  by  estimable  abolition 
brethren  "  not  to  be  too  precipitate,  or  too  uncharitable, 
or  too  harsh  in  passing  judgment  on  the  new  Society." 
Lib.  s  :  ii.  Accordingly,  he  let  it  off  by  branding  it  "  as  cold  and 
proud  in  its  spirit,  defective  in  its  organization,  corrupt 
in  its  origin,  deceitful  in  its  object,  and  delusive  in  its 
action  "  ;  "a  wretched  imposition,"  doomed  to  come  to 
naught  ;  "  a  soulless  organization  with  a  sounding  title." 
Its  chief  promoters  were  Joseph  Tracy,  formerly  of  Ver 
mont,  and  Leonard  Bacon,  colonizationists  like  the 
majority  of  their  associates,  and  therefore  incapacitated 
from  winning  the  confidence  of  the  colored  population 
whom  they  proposed  to  "relieve."  Their  constitution 
would  not  prevent  cooperation  with  the  Colonization 
Society  in  "  relieving  "  that  population  off  the  face  of 
the  land.  Their  organization  was  narrowly  sectarian, 
being  almost  wholly  within  the  Orthodox-Congregational 
body;1  and  their  membership  was  by  election  —  an  odd 
feature  in  a  philanthropic  society. 

Arthur  Tappan,  to  Mr.  Garrison's  sorrow,  was  the  first 
and  the  only  prominent  abolitionist  who  fell  into  a  trap 
set,  doubtless,  for  him  more  than  for  any  other  man. 
His  elder  brothers,  John  and  Charles,  had  had  a  consid 
erable  share  in  the  preparation  and  direction  of  the  con 
vention,  and  their  private  representations  to  him  could 
hardly  have  failed  of  effect.  What  ensued  is  thus  de 
scribed  in  a  letter  from  G.  "W.  Benson  to  S.  J.  May  : 

i  Profs.  Sidney  Willard  and  Henry  Ware,  Jr.,  and  the  Rev.  E.  S.  Gan 
nett,  all  Unitarians,  were  among  the  vice-presidents  chosen  ;  but  all  were 
removed  at  the  first  meeting  of  the  Union,  except  Prof.  Willard,  whose 
presence  made  it  awkward  to  get  rid  of  him  too  (Lib.  5:11,  17,  19).  This 
was  baseness  itself,  considering  the  Union's  virtual  appropriation  subse 
quently  of  the  constitution  of  the  Cambridge  A.  S.  Society  (which  see  in 
Muzzey's  'Reminiscences,'  pp.  294,  295).  Channing's  name,  proposed  as 
"friendly"  to  the  nominating  committee,  was  not  reported  back  (Lib. 
5  :  19). 


MT.  30.]  THE  BOSTON   MOB. — I.  471 

"  The  news  from  Boston  respecting  the  abolition  movements  MS.  Provi- 
of  last  week  is  not  very  agreeable.  You  have  seen,  I  suppose,  ^7^1835* 
the  doings  of  the  convention  that  formed  a  society  called  the 
American  Union,  and  the  course  pursued  toward  them  by  Gar 
rison.  Well,  at  the  close  of  the  convention,  Arthur  Tappan 
appeared  in  Boston,  and  spent  nearly  a  day  or  more.  The 
evening  before  his  departure,  he  met  with  a  large  number  of 
the  anti-slavery  men  of  that  city,  and  put  to  them  several 
queries :  first,  if  it  was  the  intention  of  the  Anti-Slavery  Society 
to  carry  on  a  war  of  extermination  against  the  Colonization 
Society  j  to  which  they  all  answered  in  the  affirmative.  Sec 
ondly,  Does  the  An ti- Slavery  Society  mean  to  endorse  and 
approve  of  all  the  sentiments  put  forth  by  Garrison  ?  They  all 
assented  to  the  reply  of  Mr.  Sewall,  that  they  did  approve 
of  the  principles  advanced  by  Mr.  Garrison  heretofore ;  that 
Garrison  acted  on  his  own  responsibility;  that  by  that  they 
did  not  feel  bound  to  sustain  him  in  anything  he  might 
hereafter  do,  without  they  approved  of  it.  He  then  wished  to 
know  what  they  meant  by  political  action.  They  explained  in 
reply  what  they  meant  —  in  substance,  the  same  as  the  Liberator. 

"  At  this  stage  of  the  interview,  Mr.  Garrison,  who  had  till 
then  sat  in  profound  silence,  rose,  and  said  he  felt  very  much 
embarrassed.  '  There,'  said  he,  '  is  the  man  who  relieved  me 
from  a  prison,  and  who  has  heaped  upon  me  innumerable 
favors.'  He  then  went  on  to  state  his  view  of  duty  in  relation 
to  the  above  queries,  and  what  he  thought  of  the  American 
Union ;  and  asked,  with  considerable  emotion,  whether  he 
should  compromise  principle  and  sacrifice  what  he  believed  to 
be  his  duty  to  his  colored  brethren,  to  gratify  that  man  to  whom 
he  felt  under  so  many  and  great  obligations.  He  said,  after  a 
pause,  l  No,  I  cannot,'  and  immediately  left  the  room. 

"  The  conference  continued  till  near  midnight,  and  then  broke 
up,  without  Mr.  Tappan's  fully  explaining  himself,  except  that 
he  said  he  did  not  mean  to  lower  the  standard  of  his  principles 
on  this  subject,  but  that  he  thought  we  might  unite  with  the 
Union  men  so  far  as  they  felt  disposed.  He  left  Boston  the 
next  morning  for  New  Haven,  where  he  penned  the  letter  to  the 
Boston  Recorder  which  you  can  see  by  referring  to  that  paper  of  Also, 
the  23d  inst.  I  give  you  these  facts  as  I  received  them  from  Mr.  Llb-  5 :  T9- 
Prentice,  who  spent  several  days  in  Boston  last  week.  I  believe 
I  have  got  the  substance  correct.  A  breach  is  confidently  anti 
cipated  by  the  Boston  abolitionists.  Several  persons  have  writ 
ten  Mr.  Tappan  from  different  places,  I  understand,  enquiring 


472  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GARKISON.  [Mr.  30. 

CHAP.  XIV.    if  he  meant  the  sentiments  contained  in  that  letter  should  be 
j^"s          received  as  coming  from  an  individual,  or  the  President  of  the 
American  A.  S.  Society.      ...      I  sincerely  hope  the  diffi 
culty  will  be  healed,  if  it  can  be,  without  yielding  principle." 

Mr.  Tappan's  letter  to  the  Recorder,  which  was  eagerly 
Lib.  5 : 27.  copied  by  pro-slavery  papers,  expressed  the  hope  that  the 
Union  and  the  anti-slavery  societies  could  work  in  har 
mony,  as  he  believed  there  already  existed  a  substantial 
agreement  in  principle.  He  defended  Mr.  Garrison  against 
the  charge  of  atheism ;  1  said  his  friends  were  not  insen 
sible  of  his  faults,  of  which  "  the  most  prominent  is  the 
severe  and  denunciatory  language  with  which  he  often 
assails  his  opponents  and  repels  their  attacks,"  but  hoped 
"  to  see  this  corrected,  and  that  argument  will  take  the 
place  of  invective  " ;  and  declared  that  much  was  due  him 
for  his  noble  and  disinterested  efforts. 

Lib.  5 : 19.  Mr.  Garrison  replied  by  denying  that  the  leading 
anti-slavery  men  were  in  sympathy  or  connection  with 
the  new  organization  :  it  was  the  laughing-stock  of  abo 
litionists.  He  took  the  liberty  of  appending  a  private 
letter  from  Lewis  Tappan,  in  reference  to  "  the  late  con 
vention  in  Boston  to  form  what  I  should  call  AN  ANTI- 
GARRISON  SOCIETY."  2  To  the  Liberator's  editorial  com 
ments  on  its  proceedings  this  writer  gave  his  approval : 
"They  will  meet  a  hearty  response  from  every  true- 
hearted  emancipationist  in  the  land.  The  times  require 
decision  and  courage,  and  I  feel  thankful  to  God  for  your 
steadfastness  at  the  post  which  His  providence  has 
assigned  you.  Go  on  and  prosper,  thou  friend  of  the 
oppressed  !  The  Lord  will  be  thy  shield  and  buckler." 3 

1  Preferred  by  the  Recorder,  which  absurdly  ranked  Mr.  Garrison  with 
Paine,  Rousseau,  and  the  French  Jacobins  (Lib.  5:  3). 

2  Amasa  Walker  called  this  hitting  the  nail  on  the  head  (Lib.  5 : 27).     The 
promoters  of  the  American  Union,  said  a  writer  in  the  N.  E.  Spectator,  "  hate 
Garrisonism  more  than  they  detest  slavery"  (Lib.  5:26).    And  a  corre 
spondent  of  the  Liberator  described  the  proceedings  of  the  convention  as 
"thoroughly  imbued  with  the  '  Hang  Garrison  '  spirit"  (Lib.  5:22). 

3  Even  more  plainly  spoke  Lewis  Tappan  in  a  letter  pardoning  Mr.  Gar 
rison  for  having  placed  him  before  the  public  as  antagonistic  to  his  brother 
(MS.  Feb.  5,  1835):  "When  I  first  heard  of  the  American  Union,  I  looked 
upon  it  as  a  device  of  Satan,  using  many  good  men  to  effect  his  nefarious 
purposes." 


^T.  30.]  THE   BOSTON   MOB. —  I.  473 

Arthur  Tappan's   aberration,   however,  was  but  mo 
mentary.     Within   a  fortnight    after    his    return   from    MS.  Feb.  5, 
Boston  he  subscribed  five  thousand  dollars  for  the  year    *Tappanto 
to  the  funds  of  the  American  Anti-Slavery  Society,  and 
waited  for  developments  as  to  the  course  of  the  American 
Union,  which  lost  no  time  in  making  itself  ridiculous.1 
It  held  one  meeting,  at  which  Leonard  Bacon  proposed     Lit.  5 : 19. 
getting  statistics  of  the  colored  population,  and  informa 
tion  about  the  results  of  emancipation  in  other  countries; 
and  at  which  the  constitution  adopted  the  same  day  was 
amended  by  leaving  the  "  abandonment "  of  slavery  abso 
lutely  indeterminate.    On  the  following  day  it  would  not     Lit.  5 : 19. 
listen  to  the  statistics  offered  to  be  read,  and  eliminated 
the  Unitarians  from  the  board  of  officers.     Some  weeks 
later  it   brought  out  its   "  plans/'  which  included   the     Lit.  5 : 49. 
incidental  abolition  of  slavery,  and  much  of  Mr.  Gar 
rison's  thunder, — such  as  the  improvement  of  the  col 
ored  people  in  the  large  cities  and  towns  by  religious 
aiyl   secular   instruction,  furthering  their  employment, 
and  inculcating  saving  habits  j  and  the  higher  education 
of  the  more  promising  young  men,  to  fit  them  to  civilize 
the  West  Indies ;  but  above  all,  statistics,  statistics,  as  the 
basis  of  action  by  the  Union  !    It  professed  no  hostility  to 
slaveholders,  nor  any  opposition  to  the  American  Anti- 
Slavery  or  American  Colonization  Society.     It  sought  to 
gather-in  the  clergy  and  churches  and  individuals  who 
could  cooperate  with  neither  organization.     With  much 
difficulty  it   formed  one  or  two   microscopic   auxiliary     Lib.  5 : 55, 
societies  j  in  July  despatched  Prof.  E.  A.  Andrews 2  on  a 

1  "  Arthur  Tappan  is  still  firmly  with  us.     He  keeps  very  still  respecting 
the  American  Union,  but  the  impression  is  that  he  regrets  the  course  he 
pursued  in  regard  to  it.     He  has  given  the  American  A.  S.  Society  $1000 
this  month"  (MS.  New  York,  Feb.  25,  1835,  Henry  E.  Benson  to  his  brother 
George).    On  March  16,  Mr.  Garrison  wrote  from  New  York  to  his  wife,  of 
an  Executive-Committee  meeting  on  March  14 :  "  Arthur  Tappan  was  in  the 
chair,  and  manifested  a  truly  noble  spirit.     When  the  American  Union 
caught  him,  '  it  caught  a  Tartar,'  and  it  will  be.  glad  to  get  rid  of  him." 

2  Author  of  the  well-known  Latin  Grammar  and  Lexicon.    See  his  apolo 
getic  '  Slavery  and  the  Domestic  Slave  Trade  in  the  United  States :  In  a 
series  of  letters  addressed  to  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  American 
Union  for  the  Relief  and  Improvement  of  the  Colored  Race '  (Boston, 
1836) ;  and  Lib.  6:38,  where,  under  the  caption,  "A  Pernicious  Publica- 


474  WILLIAM  LLOYD    GARRISON.  [^T.  30. 


tour  of  observation  as  far  as  Richmond  ;  in  May  of  the 

Lib.  6:87,     following  year  held  a  public  meeting  to  counsel  patience 

with  wrongdoing,  and  calmness  towards  the  oppressor, 

and  then  followed  the  Cambridge  Anti-Slavery  Society 

and  the  Massachusetts  Colonization  Society  to  their  long 

Lib.  5:103.     resting-place.     Some  thought  it  was  only  the  spook  of 

£#.5:23.     the  latter  body.     Mr.  Garrison,  in   an   address   to  his 

colored  brethren,  called  it  "  a  new  society  of  old  [coloni 

zation]  materials."     They  would  naturally  ask  what  its 

object  was.     "  The  same  question  was  propounded  by  an 

influential  gentleman  of  this  city  (not  an  abolitionist)  to 

Charles      one  of  the  originators  of  this  scheme.    What  was  his 

z^o^io.     reply?    It  was  this:—  <  Our  object  is,  TO  PUT  DOWN 

GARRISON  AND  HIS  FRIENDS.7    Now,  who  are  my 

friends  if  you  are  not?    You  are  all  my  friends  —  my 

most   grateful,  attached,  devoted  friends.     The  object, 

then,  of  the  '  American  Union  '  is  to  put  you  down,  along 

with  myself  !    I  suspected  as  much,  long  ago."    But  they 

need  only  stand  by  him  as  heretofore,  "  and  we  will  soon 

scatter  to  the  winds  this  lofty  but  fragile  fabric  of  per 

secution,  pride  and  cowardice." 

Lib.  5  :  35.  In  f  act,  the  colored  citizens  of  Boston  refused  emphati 
cally  to  be  "  relieved  "  by  the  new  saviour  of  society.  The 
soulless  diversion  met  the  early  doom  predicted  for  it  by 
its  intended  victim.  His  friends  refused  to  be  seduced 
or  panic-stricken,  or  to  assist  in  putting  him  down.  Its 
most  distinct  achievement  during  its  brief  career  was  to 
paralyze  the  attempt  to  revive  a  lapsed  anti-slavery 
Lib.  5:27,  society  among  the  Andover  students,  with  whom,  in  the 
first  weeks  of  January,  George  Thompson  was  power 
fully  laboring.  It  encouraged  the  pro-slavery  portion  of 
the  Faculty  to  warn  the  students  against  any  connection 
with  the  American  A.  S.  Society,  on  the  ground  that  this 
would  repel  men  who  "  are  prejudiced  against  the  name 

tion,"  Mr.  Garrison  banteringly  reviews  the  book.  Andrews's  account  of 
his  interview  with  Arthur  Tappan  in  New  York  shows  how  completely  the 
American  Union  had  lost  its  hold  on  the  latter.  Another  unobjectionable 
publication  was  '  Letters  from  the  West  Indies,'  by  Prof.  Sylvester  Hovey 
(Lib.  8:87). 


^T.  30.]  THE  BOSTON   MOB. — I.  475 

'  Anti-slavery/  because  they  do  not  wish  to  identify  CHAP.  xiv. 
themselves  with  '  Garrison  and  his  imprudences."7  So  X^J5> 
the  renascent  organization  took  the  harmless  name  of 
the  "African's  Friend  Society/'  calculated,  like  that  of 
the  American  Union,  to  exert  "  a  kind,  moral  influence 
on  the  community."  Then  Prof.  Moses  Stuart  advised 
that  the  Colonization  committee  be  dissolved,  and  cau 
tioned  the  students  against  excitement  on  the  subject  of 
slavery,  and  above  all  not  to  "  pray  about  it  publicly." 
Thus  the  peace  of  the  graveyard  was  secured  in  the 
Theological  Seminary  at  Andover.1 

The  American  Union  had  both  miscalculated  the  ex 
tent  of  the  dissension  among  the  abolitionists,  and  failed 
from  sheer  dishonesty  to  take  advantage  of  that  which 
actually  existed.  For,  however  unconsciously  to  Mr. 
Garrison,  Northern  sentiment,  whether  abolitionist  or 
not,  was  gradually  dividing  itself  into  Garrisonite  and 
anti-Garrisonite  j  and  towards  the  latter  class  were  surely 
gravitating  the  pietistic,  theological  and  sectarian  ele 
ments  of  society.  Circumstances  about  to  be  described 
made  the  condition  of  the  American  churches  the  next 
great  concern  of  the  abolitionists,  and  consequently  the 
subject  of  the  Liberator's  most  uncompromising  censure. 
All  denominations  were  on  the  eve  of  throwing  off  the 
mask  as  apologists  for  the  slave  system,  and  of  covering 
their  guilt  by  exciting  anew  against  Mr.  Garrison  the 
odium  theologicum  already  incurred  by  his  exposure  of 
the  colonization  hypocrisy.  The  result  could  but  con 
firm  the  fears  of  those  genuine  abolitionists  who  had 
been  disturbed  by  his  "  unchristian  n  mode  of  denuncia 
tion,  and  effectuate  the  breach  for  which  the  American 
Union  had  not  sufficed.  The  unscrupulous  and  malig 
nant  misrepresentations  of  his  enemies  were  practically 

1  The  neighboring  institution  of  Phillips  Academy  underwent  a  similar 
experience ;  but  fifty  students,  though  nearly  all  professors  of  religion  and 
studying  for  the  ministry,  were  less  subservient  than  those  of  the  divinity 
school.  Forbidden  to  organize  among  themselves,  they  joined  a  village 
A.  S.  society,  and,  disobeying  an  ex-post-facto  regulation  of  the  Faculty, 
were  virtually  expelled  (Lib.  5:122,  130). 


476  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GAKRISON.  [^ST.  30. 


CHAP.  xiv.  unchecked  (for  the  public  at  large)  either  by  personal 
1835.  acquaintance  or  by  candid  perusal  of  his  writings.  A 
single  contemporary  instance  will  show  the  force  of  this 
ignorance  and  prejudice  even  in  the  most  enlightened 
and  unUigoted  and  humanitarian  circles.  At  Concord, 
Mass.,  on  his  Middlesex  County  lecturing  tour,  Charles 
C.  Burleigh1  had  a  friendly  conversation  with  Miss  Emer 
son,  the  maiden  aunt  of  the  poet  :  2 

MS.  April  "  l  Why  do  you  have  that  Garrison  engaged  in  your  cause  ?  ' 
?'  l?^Ma°  sa^  s^e'  an^  proceeded  to  express  her  strong  dislike  of  him 
and  his  paper.  '  You  might  as  well  ask  me,'  I  replied,  '  why 
we  permit  the  rivers  to  flow  on  in  their  channels,  for  the  one 
could  be  prevented  as  easily  as  the  other,  while  life  remains, 
and  the  physical  power  to  labor,  in  Garrison.'  We  thereupon 
discussed  Mr.  G.'s  conduct  and  character,  and  I  soon  found  she 
knew  very  little  about  either.  I  related  some  facts  showing  his 
self-denial,  his  sacrifice,  his  heart-and-soul  devotion  to  the 
cause.  Her  countenance  brightened  as  I  proceeded,  and  before 
I  could  complete  my  narrative  she  exclaimed,  '  He  ought  to  be 
canonized?  " 

Nothing  marks  more  peculiarly  Mr.  Garrison's  anti- 
slavery  warfare  than  the  maturity  of  it  —  the  judicial 
measure  which  is  visible  in  his  earliest  as  in  his  latest 
utterances.  There  had  been,  since  his  programme  was 

1  A  native  of  Plainfield,  Conn.,  born  in  1810,  and  one  of  a  highly-gifted 
family  of  brothers.     His  father,  Rinaldo  Burleigh,  was  a  graduate  of  Yale 
(1803),  acquired  a  high  reputation  as  teacher  of  the  academy  in  Plainfleld, 
and  became  president  of  the  first  anti-slavery  society  in  Windham  Co. 
His  mother,  Lydia  Bradford,  a  native  of  Canterbury,  was  a  lineal  descendant 
of  Governor  "Wm.  Bradford,  of  the  Mayfloiver.      Charles  Burleigh  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  January,  1835,  his  examination  showing  remarkable 
proficiency.     Already,  however,  his  editorial  defence  of  Miss  Crandall 
(ante,  p.  416)  had  committed  him  to  the  cause  of  abolition,  and  he  soon 
exchanged  his  brilliant  professional  prospects  for  the  hardships,  odium, 
and  perils  of  an  anti-slavery  lecturer.     As  an  orator  he  was  unsurpassed 
in  fluency,  logical  strictness,  and  fervor,  lacking  only  the  measure  of  time 
and  space.     His  tall  figure,  noble  countenance,  and  unconventional  dress, 
with  sandy  flowing  beard  and  long  ringlets,  made  his  personal  appearance 
as  unique  as  his  talent. 

2  Mary  Moody  Emerson,  a  very  quaint  personage.      She  was  born  in 
1773  and  died  in  1863.     Her  home  was  in  Waterford,  Me.     (See  '  Worthy 
Women  of  our  First  Century,'  pp.  114,  120,  138,  152,  175  ;  Atlantic  Monthly, 
December,  1883.) 


&T.  30.]  THE   BOSTON   MOB. —  I.  477 

announced  in  1831,  no  deviation  from  it,  no  change  in  CHAP.  xiv. 
his  spirit  or  his  language.  No  shade  had  yet  come  over  jgjj^ 
his  orthodoxy.  He  had  not  ceased  to  quote  the  Bible 
against  slaveholding,  nor  to  depend  upon  the  instrumen 
tality  of  the  churches  in  converting  the  Nortn  to  his 
views.  It  was  the  conductors  of  a  depraved  religious 
press,  rebuked  without  ceremony  for  its  libels  on  the 
blacks  and  on  the  abolitionists  j  the  trustees  of  theologi 
cal  schools  invaded,  or  likely  to  be  invaded,  by  the 
strife  between  colonization  and  immediate  emancipa 
tion  ;  the  officers  of  denominations  whose  New  England 
pulpits  were,  if  usually  closed,  sometimes  freely  opened, 
to  George  Thompson  and  other  anti-slavery  lecturers, — 
it  was  these  classes  who  were  changed,  but  only  into 
more  bitter  and  more  open  opponents  of  the  moral 
revolution  they  had  failed  to  initiate,  and  could  neither 
direct  nor  resist.  The  American  Church,  with  its 
Northern  and  Southern  brotherhood,  had  always  ac 
quiesced  in  slavery.  Now  first,  in  the  year  1835,  the 
progress  of  the  agitation  compelled  the  Northern  wing 
to  take  sides  deliberately  for  or  against  the  old  con 
nection. 

One  sees  how  the  anti-slavery  leaven  had  begun   to 
work  in  it.     On  the  one  hand  was  the  Boston  meeting  of       April?., 
members  and  pastors  of  various  city  churches,  to  form  a     £/£  5^.59. 
union   among   professing   Christians   to   determine  the 
action  of  churches  as  such  against  slavery ;  the  formation 
of  an  anti-slavery  society  among  the  preachers  of  the     Lib.  5 : 99. 
New  England  Methodist  Conference  at  Lynn,  under  the 
influence  of  George  Thompson,  and  at  the  New  Hamp 
shire  Conference  ;  anti-slavery  declarations  by  the  Maine    Lib.  5  •.  109, 
General  Conference,  the  Detroit  Presbytery,  the  Utica  J^; ]%£.  l°53' 
Synod,  the  Michigan  Synod,  the  Maine  Baptist  Conven 
tion.     On   the    other  hand,   in    Boston,   churches    and 
vestries  were  shut  against  abolition  meetings  even   for 
prayer,  and  the  notices  of  them  were  systematically  sup-     Lib.  5  -.  59. 
pressed.     In  New  Hampshire,  Methodist  bishops  issued 
a  pastoral  letter    against  cooperation  with   the   aboli-    Lib.  5:173- 


478  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GARRISON.  [^T.  30. 


CHAP.  xiv.   tionists,  and   especially  against   allowing   them    pulpit 

!8j5.        hospitality.     In  New  York,  the  American  Bible  Society 

publicly  disclaimed    any    connection  with    them,    and 

Lib.  5  :  189.  sought  credit  for  its  refusal  to  accept  the  offer  of  funds 
to  place"  Bibles  in  the  hands  of  the  Southern  slaves,  or 
to  recommend  local  societies  to  do  so.1  In  Philadelphia, 

Lib.  s  :  189.  the  Baptist  General  Tract  Society  exacted  a  pledge  of 
its  agents  not  to  intermeddle  in  any  way  with  the 
slavery  question.  At  Pittsburg,  the  Presbyterian  Gen- 

Ltt.  5  :  93,  eral  Assembly  referred  numerous  petitions  on  slavery  to 
a  committee  four-fifths  of  whom  were  Southerners  ;  and, 
after  an  animated  debate  over  their  report,  assigned  the 
whole  matter  to  a  select  committee  to  report  at  the  next 
Assembly.  In  a  bold  speech  against  delay,  frequently 
interrupted  by  calls  to  order,  Elder  Stewart,  from  Illinois, 
declared  the  church  the  patron  of  slavery  and  responsible 
for  its  cruelties,  and  added  :  "  Slavery  cannot  be  sus 
tained  by  the  Bible,  and  if  it  could,  the  Bible  could  not 
be  sustained."  So  thought  not  the  Synod  of  Virginia, 

£#.5:181.     whose  report  on  abolition  pronounced  the  dogma  that 
slavery  was  sinful,  "  contrary    ...    to  the  clearest 
authority  of  the  word  of  God.7'2 
Looking  over  the  whole  field,  Mr.  Garrison  found  the 

Lib.  5  :  154.  religious  press,  without  regard  to  denomination,  "  filled 
with  apologies  for  sin  and  sinners  of  the  worst  class," 
though  all  of  "  the  preeminently  corrupt  and  servile  "  at 

1  The  offer  of  $5000  to  that  end,  made  by  the  American  A.  S.  Society  in 
1834  (Lib.  6  :  27),  was  renewed  at  the  annual  meeting  in  1835,  on  motion  of 
Elizur  Wright,  Jr.  (2d  Ann.  Report  Am.  A.  S.  Society,  p.  29). 

2  A  Northern  Orthodox    clergyman,   the    Rev.  Hubbard  Winslow,   of 
Boston,  a  colonizationist,  went  a  step  further,  preaching  that  the  laws  of 
the  land  must  be  obeyed  even  if  God's  commandments  were  violated  (Lib. 
5:103).     So  the  Massachusetts  Attorney-General  Austin,   prosecuting  at 
the  time  the  Rev.  Geo.  B.  Cheever  to  conviction,  asked  the  jury  :  "  Can 
there  be  a  safer  mode  of  determining  what  is  right  or  wrong  than,  Is  it 
lawful?"    On  this  Mr.  Garrison  commented  (Lib.  5:107):  "Now,  I  care 
not  what  the  law  allows  me  to  do,  or  what  it  forbids  my  doing.     If  I  violate 
it,  I  will  submit  to  the  penalty,  unresistingly,  in  imitation  of  Christ,  and 
his  apostles,  and  the  holy  martyrs.     But  to  learn  my  duty,  I  will  not  con 
sult  any  other  statute-book  than  THE  BIBLE  ;  and  whatsoever  require 
ment  of  man  I  believe  is  opposed  to  the  spirit  of  the  gospel,  I  will  at  all 
hazards  disobey." 


MT.  30.]  THE   BOSTON   MOB. —  I.  479 

the  North  were  Orthodox  save  one 1  j  and  drew  from  the  CHAP.  xiv. 
developments  of  the  day  as  to  the  demoralization  of  the  1^5. 
churches  proof  that  "American  (not  Bible)  Christianity  /.*<$. 5: 163. 
is  the  main  pillar  of  American  slavery."  2  He  had  been 
painfully  affected  by  the  coincidence  that  the  first  de 
nomination  to  succumb  to  the  test  which  he  had  pre 
pared  for  all  the  number,  was  that  in  which  he  had  been 
reared,  and  which  from  early  childhood  he  had  been  Lib.  5:51. 
taught  to  regard  "  as  most  truly  apostolical  in  its  doc 
trines."  The  Baptist  General  (Eighth  Triennial)  Con 
vention  having  been  appointed  to  meet,  in  the  spring  of 
1835,  at  Richmond,  Va.,  it  appeared  opportune  to  the 
Baptist  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  to  make  public  their 
answer,  dated  September  1,  1834,  to  an  address  from  the 
Board  of  Baptist  Ministers  in  and  near  London,  Eng 
land,  dated  December  31,  1833,  to  the  Baptist  churches  in 
America,  urging  them  to  promote  emancipation.  The 
address  itself  was  carefully  withheld,  and  first  appeared 
in  the  Liberator,  which  copied  it,  together  with  the  reply,  Lib.  5:41. 
from  a  London  organ  of  the  Baptists.  The  American 
Board  declined  compliance,  on  the  ground  that  slavery 
was  not  originated  by  the  American  colonies,  and  that 
hence  both  the  nation  and  the  free  States  were  guiltless 
in  regard  to  it  ;  that  Maryland,  Kentucky,  and  Virginia 
were  endeavoring  to  get  rid  of  the  system ;  that  slave 
holders  knew  best  the  true  interests  of  the  negro ;  that 
emancipation  was  hazardous  and  must  be  gradual ;  that 
what  was  needed  was  calm  and  affectionate  argument ; 
that  agitation  would  divide  the  Northern  and  Southern 
Baptists.  "  Our  slaveholding  brethren "  were  vouched 
for  as  "Christians,  sincere  followers  of  the  Lord  Jesus."3 

1  "All  the  religious  papers  at  the  South,"  said  the  Evangelist,   "now 
take  the  ground  that  slavery  is  no  sin"  (Lib.  5 : 196). 

2  So  Birney's  short-lived  Kentucky  A.  S.   Society  resolved  that  slave- 
holding  by  professors  of  religion  was  the  greatest  barrier  to  emancipation 
(Lib.  5:77). 

3  The  Society  of  Friends  had  received  a  similar  epistle  from  a  meeting  of 
Friends  in  London,  but  remained  discreetly  mum  (Lib.  5 : 67 ;  see,  also,  Mr. 
Garrison's  resolution  concerning  the  abatement  of  their  zeal  in  2d  Ann.  Re 
port  Am.  A.  S.  Society,  p.  32,  and  S.  J.  May's  experience  with  the  Newport 
Quakers,  '  Recollections,'  p.  147). 


480  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GARRISON.  [^T.  30. 


Lib.  5  :  67.  This  "  shallow  attempt  to  evade/'  as  the  London  Aboli 
tionist  justly  termed  it,  was  duly  dissected  by  Mr.  Gar- 

Lib.  5  :  43,  rison  in  the  Liberator,  but  we  can  find  room  here  only 
for  these  general  prefatory  remarks  : 

Lib.  5:43.  "It  is  a  fact,  alike  indisputable  and  shameful,  that  the 
Christianity  of  the  19th  century,  in  this  country,  is  preached 
and  professed  by  those  who  hold  their  brethren  in  bondage  as 
brute  beasts  !  and  so  entirely  polluted  has  the  church  become, 
that  it  has  not  moral  power  enough  to  excommunicate  a  mem 
ber  who  is  guilty  of  MAN-STEALING  !  Whether  it  be  Unitarian 
or  Orthodox,  Baptist  or  Methodist,  Universalist  or  Episcopal, 
Roman  Catholic  or  Christian,1  it  is  full  of  innocent  blood  —  it  is 
the  stronghold  of  slavery  —  it  recognizes  as  members  those  who 
grind  the  faces  of  the  poor,  and  usurp  over  the  helpless  the 
prerogatives  of  the  Almighty  !  At  the  South,  slaves  and  slave 
holders,  the  masters  and  their  victims,  the  spoilers  and  the 
spoiled,  make  up  the  Christian  church  !  The  churches  at  the 
North  partake  of  the  guilt  of  oppression,  inasmuch  as  they  are 
in  full  communion  with  those  at  the  South.  To  each  of  them 

Psalms,  1.  18.  it  may  be  said  —  '  When  tbou  sawest  a  thief,  then  thou  con- 
sentedst  with  him,  and  hast  been  partaker  with  adulterers.' 

2  Cor.  vi.  17.  And  the  plain  command  to  each  of  them  is,  '  Wherefore,  come 
out  from  among  them,  and  be  ye  separate,2  saith  the  Lord, 
and  touch  not  the  unclean  thing  j  and  I  will  receive  you,  and 
will  be  a  Father  unto  you,  and  ye  shall  be  my  sons  and  daugh 
ters,  saith  the  Lord  Almighty.'  " 

As  if  to  heighten  the  evil  example  of  the  Baptist 
Board,  two  English  delegates  to  the  Richmond  Conven 
tion,  the  Rev.  Dr.  F.  A.  Cox  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  J.  Hoby, 
returned  thence  to  New  York  in  season  to  attend  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  American  Anti-Slavery  Society,  to 
which,  indeed,  they  were  formally  invited.  But  they 
declined  to  take  part  in  it.  Dr.  Cox,  a  member  of  the 
Lib.  5:109.  British  and  Foreign  Anti-Slavery  Society,  and,  though 
passive,  one  of  the  committee  who  sped  George  Thomp 
son  on  his  mission  to  America,  was  privately  exhorted 

1  Pronounced  with  the  first  i  long.     "A  name  assumed  by  a  sect  which 
arose  from  the  great  revival  in  1801  "  (Bartlett's  '  Dictionary  of  American 
isms  '). 

2  The  full  political  application  of  this  text  occurred  later  to  Mr.  Garrison. 


JEi.  30.1  THE   BOSTON   MOB. — I.  481 

by  the  latter,  but  carefully  avoided  the  gathering  of  the  CHAP.  xiv. 
abolitionists.  Dr.  Hoby,  it  is  true,  protested  from  the  jjj^. 
gallery,  in  answer  to  Thompson's  indignant  rebuke  of 
them,  that  they  did  not  wish  to  compromise  the  "  spirit 
ual  and  sacred7'  objects  of  their  journey  5  and  Dr.  Cox 
by  letter  urged  political  objections  to  foreigners  sharing 
in  the  anti-slavery  agitation.  In  short,  they  remained 
silent  in  New  York,  as  they  had  been  eloquently  dumb 
in  Richmond,  where  their  Southern  brethren  received 
them  with  perfect  cordiality  and  the  Convention  auda 
ciously  resolved,  that  slave-owners  ought  to  awake  to  the 
importance  of  giving  religious  instruction  (not  Bibles)  to 
their  slaves.1 

The  hostility  of  the  churches  and  the  timidity  of  public- 
hall  owners  now  began  to  be  a  most   serious  embar 
rassment  to  the  abolitionists  in  their  oral  propaganda. 
In  Philadelphia  the  resolve  was  formed  to  build  an  Anti-     Lib,  5  •.  70. 
Slavery  Hall,  and  in  Boston  the  need  was  even  greater. 
The  New  England  Convention,  at  its  May  session,  was     Lib.  5 : 87, 
shut  out  of  seven  churches,  of  the  Masonic  Temple,  and  of    B9t^^n' 
every  hall  in  the  city  but  two  —  including  Faneuil  Hall    M™S-  A-^j- 
itself,  by  the  questionably  legal  action  of  the  city  authori 
ties.  Thereupon,  on  June  22,  a  meeting  was  held  at  Julien     Lib.  $  -.  99, 
Hall  to  take  measures  for  the  erection  of  a  Free  Church  2 
building  "in  which  all  the   great  moral  questions  of 
the  day  may  be  discussed  without  let  or  hindrance." 
Francis  Jackson  presided,  and  Mr.  Garrison  was  among 

1  See  the  apology  of  Drs.  Cox  and  Hoby  in  '  The  Baptists  in  America  :  A 
Narrative  of  the  Deputation  from  the  Baptist  Union  in  England,'  etc., 
N.  Y.,  1836,  Chap.  5;  and  Mr.  Thompson's  public  review  of  the  whole 
matter  in  London  (Lib.  6:133,  137,  and  also  146,  194,  198).     Dr.  Cox  was 
afterwards  present  at  the  Faneuil  Hall  meeting  in  Boston  (Chap.  11;  Lib. 
6 : 138 ;  and  below,  p.  497),  where  Mr.  Thompson  was  no  longer  the  accuser, 
but  the  murderously  accused. 

2  A  congregation  had  already  been  formed  with  this  designation,  and  had 
with  difficulty  obtained  recognition  from  an  Orthodox  council,  owing  to  the 
following  rule  of  covenant:    "All   persons  who  use  or  traffic  in  ardent 
spirits  as  a  drink,  all  adhering  masons,  and  all  slaveholders,  or  those  who 
are  concerned  in  the  buying  and  selling  of  slaves,  shall  be  excluded  from 
the  communion-table  and  the  pulpit."    See  the  whole  story  and  its  sequel 
in  '  Right  and  Wrong  in  Boston '  for  1837. 

VOL.  I.— 31 


482  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GARRISON.  [^T.  30. 


CHAP.  xiv.  the  speakers,  as  was  also  Benjamin  F.  Hallett,  editor  of 
I875.  the  Daily  A  dvocate,  who,  in  reporting  the  proceedings  in 
his  paper,  said  they  meant  to  build  "  a  new  Cradle  of 
Liberty,"  "  where  free  discussion,  and  not  the  caprices 
of  deacons,  and  committees,  and  aldermen,  shall  be  the 
presiding  genius  ;  where  the  Constitution,  and  not  the 
constable,  shall  be  consulted  whether  it  will  do  to  discuss 
such  and  such  principles  for  fear  of  a  mob.  Mobs  are 
the  fruits  of  checking  free  discussion.  .  .  .  You  can 
never  get  up  a  mob  in  Boston  to  repress  free  discussion, 
even  of  heresy  and  error."  His  brother-editor  of  the  Com 
mercial  Gazette,  however,  knew  Boston  better  when,  with 
reference  to  this  very  movement  on  the  part  of  the  aboli- 

Lib.  5  :  105.  tionists,  he  called  on  "  all  good  citizens  to  combine  for 
the  purpose  of  putting  down  their  nefarious  transac 
tions  "  5  and  again,  on  the  4th  of  July,  when,  the  editor 
of  the  Liberator  delivering  an  address  at  Julien  Hall,  the 

£#.5:109.  Gazette  proposed  throwing  "the  mischievous  Garrison" 
and  his  hearers  overboard  like  the  tea  spilt  in  Boston 
Harbor  during  the  Revolution.  "  A  cold  bath  would  do 
them  good." 

Two  influences  Boston  could  not  escape  :  one,  the  ex 
ample  of  Congress  in  repressing  free  speech  ;  the  other, 
the  example  of  sister  cities  carried  away  by  Southern 

Lib.  5:26,  panic.  On  February  2,  Mr.  Dickson,  of  New  York, 
presented  in  the  House  of  Representatives  the  petition 
of  eight  hundred  ladies  for  the  abolition  of  slavery  in 
the  District  of  Columbia,  and,  in  a  favorable  speech, 
asserting  the  power  of  Congress  in  the  premises,  moved 
its  reference  to  a  select  committee  ;  but  the  House,  by 
a  three-fifths  vote,  chose  to  lay  it  on  the  ta]?le.  On 

Lib.  5  :  30.  February  11,  like  petitions  were  presented  in  the  Senate 
from  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  and  Maine,  and  referred  to 
the  Committee  on  the  District.  More  petitions  reached 

Lib.  5  :  31.  the  House  on  the  16th,  this  time  from  Massachusetts  also, 
and  now  the  resentment  of  the  South,  feeling  the  censure 
involved  in  the  proposed  action  in  the  District,  could  no 
longer  be  contained.  Clay,  of  Alabama,  said  the  anti- 


MT.  30.]  THE   BOSTON   MOB. —  I.  483 

slavery  agitation  "  was  confined  to  a  few  fanatics,  urged  CHAP.  xiv. 
and  guided  by  the  Garrisons,  the  Tappans,  and  others,  ^ 
their  wire- workers."  Wise,  of  Virginia,  declared  the  South 
would  fight  to  the  hilt  against  emancipation  in  the  Dis 
trict  unless  upon  a  petition  from  slave-owners.  The 
House,  which  had  adopted  Mr.  Dickson's  motion  (sec 
onded  by  his  colleague,  Mr.  Fillmore)  to  print  a  memorial 
from  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  bearing  the  mayor's  signature, 
was  persuaded  by  Wise  to  reconsider  and  lay  it,  like  the 
several  petitions,  upon  the  table.  The  same  fate  attended 
petitions  afterwards  introduced  by  John  Quincy  Adams ; 
but  the  slavery  question  had  come  to  stay  in  Congress. 

The  Southern  panic  was  especially  caused  by  the 
activity  of  the  admirably  directed  American  Anti- Slavery 
Society.  A  circular  from  the  management1  to  its  auxili-  Lib.  5:98. 
aries,  in  June,  urged  the  raising  of  $30,000  for  the  current 
year,  to  multiply  agents,  societies,  and  periodicals,  and 
provide  for  the  gratuitous  distribution  of  anti-slavery 
publications.  In  the  first  week  of  each  month  a  small 
folio  paper  called  Human  Rights  would  be  issued ;  in  the 
second  week,  the  Anti-Slavery  Record,  "  a  small  magazine 
with  cuts  " ;  in  the  third,  an  enlarged  sheet  of  the  Eman 
cipator  ;  in  the  fourth,  the  Slave's  Friend,  a  juvenile 
magazine  —  all  struck  off  by  the  thousand.  Of  the  sum 
required,  $14,500  had  been  raised  at  the  annual  meeting 
in  May;  $4,000  by  the  New  England  Convention,  where  <^ 
Isaac  Winslow  handed  in  a  thousand-dollar  bill.  Such  a 
practical  programme,  backed  by  such  energy  and  such 
ready  funds,  was  well  calculated  to  startle  the  South. 

On  July  10,  a  group  of  Southerners,  chiefly  Mississip-    Lib.  5:115. 
pian  and  all  Gulf-State,  laiet  at  the  American  Hotel  in  New 
York,  and  appointed  a  committee  to  prepare  an  address 
summoning  a  public  meeting  in  that  city  ten  days  later, 
"to  take  into  consideration  the  alarming  subject  now 

1  The  Executive  Committee  consisted  of  Arthur  Tappan,  John  Rankin, 
Lewis  Tappan,  Joshua  Leavitt,  Samuel  E.  Cornish,  William  Goodell,  Abra 
ham  L.  Cox,  Theodore  S.  Wright,  Simeon  S.  Jocelyn,  and  Elizur  Wright, 
Jr.  — Messrs.  Cornish  and  T.  S.  Wright  being  colored  clergymen. 


484  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAEKISON.  f^ET.  30. 


CHAP.  xiv.  being  agitated  —  the  doctrines  disseminated  and  the 
^5.  measures  adopted  by  some  of  their  fellow-citizens  of  the 
non-slaveholding  States,  avowing  a  solemn  determination 
to  effect  an  immediate  and  unconditional  emancipation 
of  the  slaves  at  the  South  "  ;  and  to  avert  the  disastrous 
consequences  of  such  interference. 

Lib.  s  •  87-  Before  the  day  fixed  for  the  meeting,  Mr.  Garrison. 
whose  health  was  not  good,  yielding  to  the  solicitations 
July  18,  of  his  aunt  Newell,  sailed  with  her  1  to  the  British  Prov 
inces,  to  visit  their  relatives  and  look  after  certain 
inheritances.  On  his  return,  in  the  first  week  of  August, 
he  found  the  whole  country  ablaze  with  an  excitement 
that  threatened  the  safety  of  every  abolitionist. 

Lib.  5:118.  What  had  happened,  meantime,  was  this.  The  South 
ern  meeting  in  New  York  had  come  off  (July  20). 
Moderate  resolutions  were  presented,  admitting  slavery 
to  be  an  evil,  but  apologizing  for  it  as  entailed  (in  the 
manner  of  the  Baptist  Board  of  Foreign  Missions),  and 
on  the  ground  (already  used  to  justify  the  persecution 
of  Prudence  Crandall)  that  "  amalgamation  "  of  the  two 
races  would  be  revolting  ;  protesting  that  agitation  would 
compel  the  slaveholders  in  self-defence  to  tighten  the 
bonds  of  the  slave  5  and  calling  for  a  convention  of  dele 
gates  from  the  slaveholding  States  to  consider  the  present 
crisis.  To  these  the  "  fire-eaters  "  objected  as  conceding 
too  much,  and  to  the  convention  as  giving  undue  impor 
tance  to  a  set  of  fanatics  powerless  for  mischief.  It  was 
thereupon  resolved  rather  that,  "  whether  slavery  in  our 
country  ~be  an  evil  or  not,  it  is  a  question  belonging  solely 
to  the  States  in  which  it  is  tolerated  "  j  that  the  South 
could  not  believe  the  abolitionists  would  seriously  affect 
public  opinion  at  the  North,  and  confidently  relied  upon 
the  North  to  put  them  down  ;  but  that  if  the  issue  were 
forced,  the  rights  of  property  were  sacred  and  would  be 
maintained. 

l  In  the  Boundary,  Capt.  Shackf  ord.  On  this  trip  Mr.  Garrison  learned 
his  true  birth-year,  1805  —  almost  the  only  compensation  he  got  for  his 
outlay  and  discomfort. 


^Ex.  30.]  THE  BOSTON   MOB.— I.  485 

The  Northern  mind  was  prepared  to  give  full  weight  CHAP.  xiv. 
to  this  manifesto  in  consequence  of  a  ferocious   anti-        1835. 
negro  riot  in  Philadelphia  the  week  previous  (July  13,    Lib-  5 :  "9. 
14),  growing  out  of  a  colored  servant's  having  struck  his 
employer  with  an  axe.     Nor  was  it  allowed  to  recover  its 
equilibrium,   if    prejudice   would  have   allowed  it,   for 
directly  (July  24)  a  mass  meeting  was  held  at  the  Capitol    Lib.  5 : 122. 
in   Richmond  to   stem  the  progress  of  abolition,  and 
adjourned  for  greater  deliberation  to  August  4.     Simul 
taneously  came  the  news  of  an  alleged  slave  insurrection    Lib.$-.  123, 
in  Mississippi,  with  the  hanging  of  two  of  its  white    ^Nik?Regis- 
promoters l  on  the  Fourth  of  July  !     And  then,  to  crown     ter^'^3'1 
all,  the  leading  citizens  of  Charleston,  on  the  night  of    Lib.  5 : 129. 
July  29,  broke  into  the  post-office  and  took  possession  of 
"incendiary"  matter  brought  from   New  York  by  the 
U.  S.  mail  packet  Columbia,  among  which  were  discovered 
the  Emancipator,   the  Anti-Slavery  Record,  the   Slave's 
Friend,  Human  Rights  —  unmistakably  issued  from  the 
office   of    the  American  Anti- Slavery  Society  and   (to 
Southern  eyes)  intended  for  circulation  among  the  slaves. 
On  the  next  night  three  thousand  persons  gathered  to 
assist  in  burning  them  in  front  of  the  main  guard-house, 
and  to  hang  and  afterwards   burn   effigies   of  Arthur 
Tappan,  Garrison,  and  the  Rev.   Dr.    Samuel  H.  Cox. 
Two  days  later,  with  appropriately  lurid  metaphor,  the 
City  Council   called  a  mass  meeting  for  August  3,  to 
defeat  "  the  incendiary  acts  of  those  base  and  unprin 
cipled  fanatics  who  are  improperly  interfering  with  our 
domestic  policy." 

On  August  4,  the  Richmond  meeting  was  held,  and  its    Lib.  5  -.  133. 
appeal,  strengthened  by  the  outrage  on  the  mails   in 
South  Carolina,    made   a  profound  impression   at  the 

l  Described  as  " steam-doctors,"  i.  e.,  Thomsonians  (see  Bartlett's  'Dic 
tionary  of  Americanisms',  s.  v.)  The  plot  was  said  to  have  embraced  the 
extermination  of  the  whites  from  Maryland  to  Louisiana.  The  abolitionists 
were  not  accused  (as  an  association)  of  having  any  hand  in  it,  but  were 
of  course  vaguely  connected  with  it  (see  'Memoirs  of  S.  S.  Prentiss.' 
1:162).  The  local  excitement  was  greatly  intensified  by  the  barbarous 
lynching  of  white  gamblers  at  Vicksburg  and  Natchez  (Lib.  5 : 126). 


486  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKKISON.  [2ET.  30. 

CHAP.  xiv.  North.  Virginia,  said  the  committee  making  the  skil- 
js^.  fully  worded  report  which  formed  the  business  of  the 
meeting,  had  taken  no  notice  of  the  abolition  associa 
tions  so  long  as  they  seemed  feeble  and  ineffectual. 
Now,  they  had  grown  strong,  with  a  more  perfect  organ 
ization,  and,  having  presses  of  their  own,  were  sowing 
their  doctrines  broadcast,  and  sending  their  inflammatory 
publications  to  the  Southern  States  "  for  the  undisguised 
purpose  of  producing  by  fraud  or  by  force  the  immediate 
emancipation  of  our  slaves.7'  The  meeting  conjured  the 
North  to  repress  them  "  by  strong  yet  lawful,  by  mild 
yet  constitutional  means  " ;  by  new  laws  if  those  exist 
ing  were  insufficient.  The  South  had  a  constitutional 
right  to  its  slave  property  in  the  States,  the  Territories, 
and  the  District  of  Columbia.  And  since  the  abolition 
of  slavery  anywhere,  or  the  regulation  of  the  inter- State 
slave  trade,  would  be  in  violation  of  the  Compact  and 
destructive  of  the  Government,  the  only  way  to  preserve 
the  Union  was  by  the  suppression  of  the  abolitionists.  The 
Postmaster-General  was  invoked  to  prevent  transmission, 
through  mail-delivery,  of  "  all  printed  papers  suspected  of 
a  tendency  to  produce  or  encourage  an  insubordinate  and 
insurrectionary  spirit  among  the  slaves  of  the  South." 
The  resolutions  closed  with  an  affirmation  of  belief  that 
the  North  shared  the  Southern  indignation  against  "  de 
luded  fanatics."  Will  it  show  its  sympathy,  asked  the 
Richmond  Whig,  by  works  as  well  as  by  words  ? l 
Nowhere  .was  this  question  more  seriously  pondered 

Lib.  5:130.     than  in  Boston,  where  the  Atlas  at  once  called  for  a 

i  At  a  meeting  held  on  August  22,  1835,  at  Gloucester  Court-house,  Va., 
John  Tyler,  then  a  Senator  of  the  United  States,  held  up  a  copy  of  the 
A.  S.  Record,  which  had  been  sent  him  through  the  mail.  "  Here,"  said  he, 
"  is  a  picture  upon  the  external  covering  designed  to  represent  each  of  you, 
gentlemen.  A  scourge  is  in  your  hand,  and  three  victims  bound  and  kneel 
ing  at  your  feet.  You  are  represented  as  demons  in  the  shape  of  men  ;  and 
by  way  of  contrast  here  stands  Arthur  Tappan,  Mr.  Somebody  Garrison,  or 
Mr.  Foreigner  Thompson,  patting  the  greasy  little  fellows  on  their  cheeks, 
and  giving  them  most  lovely  kisses.  They  are  the  exclusive  philanthropists 
—  the  only  lovers  of  the  human  race  —  the  only  legitimate  defenders  of  the 
religion  of  Christ "  ('  Letters  and  Times  of  the  Tylers,'  1 : 576). 


JET.  30.] 


THE  BOSTON   MOB. —  I. 


487 


meeting  in  the  same  Faneuil  Hall  that  had  been  denied 
the  abolitionists,  and  urged  that  Webster,  Otis,  Adams, 
Story,  Sprague,  Austin,  Choate,  and  Everett  should 
"  vindicate  the  fair  fame  of  our  city."  One  thus  invited 
to  declare  his  sentiments  against  men  accused  of  prepar 
ing  a  civil  and  servile  war  in  the  name  of  philanthropy, 
John  Quincy  Adams,  wrote  as  follows  in  his  diary : 

August  11, 1835.— "  The  theory  of  the  rights  of  man  has  taken 
deep  root  in  the  soil  of  civil  society.  .  .  .  Anti- slavery 
associations  are  formed  in  this  country  and  in  England,  and  they 
are  already  co-operating  in  concerted  agency  together.  They 
have  raised  funds  to  support  and  circulate  inflammatory  news 
papers  and  pamphlets  gratuitously,  and  they  send  multitudes 
of  them  into  the  Southern  country,  into  the  midst  of  swarms  of 
slaves.  There  is  an  Englishman,  by  the  name  of  Thompson, 
lately  come  over  from  England,  who  is  travelling  about  the 
country,  holding  meetings  and  making  eloquent  inflammatory 
harangues,  preaching  the  immediate  abolition  of  slavery.  The 
general  disposition  of  the  people  here  is  averse  to  these  move 
ments,  and  Thompson  has  several  times  been  routed  by 
popular  tumults.  But  in  some  places  he  meets  favorable 
reception,  and  makes  converts.  .  .  .  There  are  now  calls 
in  the  Atlas  (the  Webster  paper)  and  the  Morning  Post  (the 
Jackson  and  Van  Buren  paper)  for  a  town-meeting  to  put  down 
the  abolitionists  j  but  the  disease  is  deeper  than  can  be  healed 
by  town-meeting  resolutions." 

August  12. — "  Mr.  Abbott  Lawrence  told  me  that  they  were 
going  to  have  a  very  great  meeting  at  Boston  to  put  down 
the  anti-slavery  abolitionists;  but,  he  said,  there  was  no 
diversity  of  opinion  upon  that  subject  here.  That,  I  think, 
will  depend  upon  the  measures  to  be  proposed.  If  the  measures 
are  vaporing  resolutions,  they  will  pass  unanimously  and  be 
inefficient.  If  the  measures  are  efficient,  there  will  be  diversity 
of  opinion." 

August  18. — "  There  is  something  extraordinary  in  the  present 
condition  of  parties  throughout  the  Union.  Slavery  and 
democracy  —  especially  the  democracy  founded,  as  ours  is, 
upon  the  rights  of  man — would  seem  to  be  incompatible  with 
each  other.  And  yet  at  this  time  the  democracy  of  the  country 
is  supported  chiefly  if  not  entirely  by  slavery.  There  is  a  small, 
shallow,  and  enthusiastic  party  preaching  the  abolition  of 
slavery  upon  the  principles  of  extreme  democracy  j  but  the 


CHAP.  XIV. 

1835- 


Memoirs, 
9:251. 


488 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKEISON. 


CHAP.  XIV. 

1835- 


August  21, 

1835. 


Lib.  5 : 131 

(August  15, 

1835)- 


Cf.  Niks' 

Register, 

49:1. 


democratic  spirit  and  the  popular  feeling  is  everywhere  against 
them.  There  have  been  riots  at  Washington,  not  much  inferior 
in  activity  to  those  at  Baltimore.  ...  In  Charleston,  S.  C., 
the  principal  men  of  the  State,  with  the  late  Governor  Hayne 
at  their  head,  seize  upon  the  mail,  with  the  co-operation  of 
the  Postmaster  himself,  and  purify  it  of  the  abolition  pam 
phlets  ; l  and  the  Postmaster-General,  Amos  Kendall,  neither 
approves  nor  disapproves  of  this  proceeding.  ...  In  Bos 
ton  there  is  a  call  for  a  town-meeting,  with  H.  G.  Otis  and  P. 
C.  Brooks  at  their  head.  This  meeting  is  to  be  held  next 
Friday,  and  is  to  pass  resolutions  against  the  abolitionists,  to 
soothe  and  conciliate  the  temper  of  the  Southern  slaveholders. 
All  this  is  democracy  and  the  rights  of  man." 

Mr.  Garrison,  in  what  he  called  the  "  hurricane  excite 
ment  of  the  times,"  with  its  special  draught  towards  his 
own  person,  might  well  be  excused  for  not  taking  Mr. 
Adams's  passionless  view  of  the  situation.  His  first 
editorial  article  after  his  return  from  the  Provinces  was 
entitled  "  The  Reign  of  Terror." 

"All  Pandemonium,"  it  begins,  "  is  let  loose  —  that  insanity 
which  precedes  self-murder  has  seized  upon  the  mind  of  the 
nation,  'for  whom  God  purposes  to  destroy  he  first  makes 
mad' — the  American  Constitution,  nay,  Government  itself, 
whether  local  or  general,  has  ceased  to  extend  the  arm  of  pro 
tection  over  the  lives  and  property  of  American  citizens  — 
Rapine  and  Murder  have  overcome  Liberty  and  Law,  and  are 
rioting  in  violent  and  bloody  excess  —  all  is  consternation  and 
perplexity,  for  perilous  times  have  come. 

"  It  is  scarcely  practicable,  and  it  would  certainly  be  prema 
ture,  to  make  any  extended  comments  upon  the  direful  trans 
actions  which  are  going  on  in  various  sections  of  our  land. 
Appeals  to  reason  and  justice  and  liberty,  while  the  tempest  of 
human  passion  is  raging,  will  be  in  vain.  When  it  shall  have 
spent  its  fury,  and  given  place  to  the  ominous  silence  of  utter 
desolation,  the  voice  of  man  and  the  voice  of  God  may  again 
be  heard,  to  the  terror  and  condemnation  of  the  guilty. 

"And  what  has  brought  our  country  to  the  verge  of  ruin, 
and  substituted  anarchy  for  order,  rebellion  for  obedience, 

1  After  the  burning,  the  Charleston  Committee  of  Twenty-one  arranged 
with  the  postmaster  to  suppress  anti-slavery  documents  in  the  office.  The 
mail-packets  were  boarded  on  crossing  the  bar,  and  kept  anchored  till 
morning,  or  until  the  Committee  could  make  their  inspection. 


^T.  30.]  THE  BOSTON   MOB. —  I.  489 

jacobinism  for  religion,  and  blood-guiltiness  for  innocence  ?   CHAP.  XIV. 
THE   ACCURSED    SYSTEM   OF   SLAVERY!    To  sustain         ^ 
that  system,  there  is   a  general  willingness  to   destroy  the 
LIBERTY  OF   SPEECH   and  of  the  PRESS,  and  to  mob 
or  murder  all  who  oppose  it.    In  the  popular  fury  against 
the  advocates  of  bleeding  humanity,  every  principle  of  justice, 
every  axiom  of  liberty,  every  feeling  of  humanity  — all  the 
fundamental  doctrines  of  a  republican  government,  are  de 
rided  and  violated  without  remorse  and  with  fatal  success.  .  .  . 

"  The  newspapers  are  crowded  with  allegations  against  the 
abolitionists.  These  allegations  are  diabolically  false  —  they  are 
LIES  of  the  hugest  dimensions,  of  the  most  malicious  aspect, 
and  of  the  most  murderous  tendency.  We  have  never  sent  any 
pamphlet  or  paper  to  any  slave  ;  we  have  never,  in  any  docu 
ment,  advocated  the  right  of  physical  resistance  on  the  part  of 
the  oppressed  j  we  have  never  maintained  that  Congress  is  em 
powered  to  legislate  upon  the  subject  of  slavery  in  slaveholding 
States ;  we  have  never  asked  that  the  slaves  may  be  '  turned 
loose ' ;  we  have  never  returned  evil  for  evil.  The  head  and 
front  of  our  offending  is,  that  we  hold  slavery  to  be  a  blot  upon 
our  national  escutcheon,  a  libel  upon  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence,  A  SIN  AGAINST  GOD  which  exposes  us  to  his 
tremendous  judgments,  and  which  ought  to  be  immediately 
repented  of  and  forsaken.  We  use  precisely  the  same  meas 
ures,  and  wield  exclusively  the  same  weapons,  that  have  been 
used  in  the  cause  of  Temperance  and  of  Peace.  It  is  simply  by 
1  the  foolishness  of  preaching '  that  we  expect  to  triumph.  .  .  . 

"  Finally,  ...  we  tell  the  South  that  we  regard  its  threats 
and  warnings  with  supreme  contempt  and  utter  scorn;  that 
our  course  is  still  onward,  right  onward  5  that  we  shall  never 
desist  from  our  practice  of  publishing  *  the  truth,  the  whole 
truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth,'  respecting  its  thievish  and 
murderous  acts,  while  life  remains,  or  a  slave  pines  in  bond 
age  ;  for  truth  is  against  the  South  —  HUMANITY  is  against  it  — 
and  GOD  is  against  it." 

In  the  same  number  of  the  Liberator  Mr.  Garrison 
had  this  flying  word  for  the  approaching  Faneuil  Hall 
meeting : 

"  THE  OLD  CRADLE  OP  LIBERTY,  it  seems,  is  to  be  dese-     £#.5:131 
crated  by  a  meeting  of  the  friends  of  slavery  and  slaveholders !    ^3|J|f  I5' 
Better  that  the  lightning  of  heaven  should  smite  and  devour 
the  building  —  better  that  the  winds  should  scatter  it  in  frag- 


490 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GARRISON. 


[JET.  30. 


CHAP.  XIV.   inents  over  the  whole  earth — better  that  an  earthquake  should 


1835- 


MS.  to 
W.  L.  G. 


Letters  of 

L.  M.  Child, 

/•IS- 


engulph  it — than  that  it  should  be  used  for  so  unhallowed  and 
detestable  a  purpose  !  Is  the  SPIRIT  OF  SEVENTY-SIX  cowering 
beneath  the  whip  of  the  slave-driver  ?  Has  BUNKER  HILL  no 
voice  for  a  crisis  like  this  ?  What !  is  Faneuil  Hall  to  ring 
with  curses  upon  the  heads  of  those  who  plead  for  liberty  and 
equal  rights  —  for  the  emancipation  of  millions  of  enslaved 
AMERICAN  citizens !  0,  horrible  prostitution !  0,  base  sub 
serviency  to  tyrants!  0,  damnable  stain  upon  its  fair  fame, 
throughout  all  time !  Let  those  who  contemplate  addressing 
that  meeting  in  opposition  to  the  inalienable  rights  of  their 
colored  countrymen,  pause  before  it  is  too  late  —  their  names 
and  their  memories  will  be  covered  with  eternal  infamy.  No 
fiction,  no  sophistry,  can  hide  the  fact  from  the  intelligence  of 
an  impartial  posterity,  that  the  contemplated  meeting  is  a  meet 
ing  to  take  sides  with  the  slaveholder,  and  against  his  victim — to 
palliate  and  countenance  a  bloody  despotism,  and  to  plant  a 
dagger  in  the  bosom  of  Liberty  ! " 

Perilous  times  had  surely  come.  Simeon  Jocelyn,  just 
arrived  on  August  17  at  New  Haven  from  New  York, 
reported  a  horrible  state  of  things  in  the  latter  city. 
There  would  be  no  safety  there  for  Thompson  —  no,  nor 
even  in  New  Haven,  thronged  with  Southerners  attend 
ing  the  Yale  Commencement ;  that  very  day  Thompson 
had  taken  the  stage  from  New  Haven  for  Boston  via 
Hartford,  where  (it  was  rumored)  a  mob  had  burnt  the 
colored  people's  church  the  day  before  ;  Thompson,  Gar 
rison,  the  Tappans,  were  all  marked  for  assassination. 
Still,  the  good  man  found  comfort  in  the  thought  that 
"  the  bonfire  at  Charleston  is  exciting  a  great  curiosity 
to  read  our  papers." 

Mrs.  Child  wrote  to  Mrs.  Ellis  Gray  Loring  from  New 
York,  on  August  15  : 

"  I  am  at  Brooklyn,  at  the  house  of  a  very  hospitable  English 
man,  a  friend  of  Mr.  Thompson's.1  I  have  not  ventured  into  the 
city,  nor  does  one  of  us  dare  to  go  to  church  to-day,  so  great  is 
the  excitement  here.  You  can  form  no  conception  of  it.  'Tis  like 

i  Henry  Ibbotson,  a  merchant  of  Sheffield,  England.  Mr.  Garrison  had 
stayed  with  him  in  March,  in  Mr.  Thompson's  company.  See  R.  R. 
Gurley's  letter  to  him  in  the  African  Repository,  April,  1833  (9:  51). 


JET.  30.] 


THE   BOSTON   MOB.— I. 


491 


the  times  of  the  French  Revolution,  when  no  man  dared  trust  CHAP.  xiv. 
his  neighbors.  Private  assassins  from  New  Orleans  are  lurking  ^ 
at  the  corners  of  the  streets  to  stab  Arthur  Tappan ;  and 
very  large  sums  are  offered  for  any  one  who  will  convey  Mr. 
Thompson  into  the  slave  States.  I  tremble  for  him,  and  love 
him  in  proportion  to  my  fears.  He  is  almost  a  close  prisoner 
in  his  chamber,  his  friends  deeming  him  in  imminent  peril  the 
moment  it  is  ascertained  where  he  is.  .  .  .  Your  husband  could 
hardly  be  made  to  realize  the  terrible  state  of  fermentation  now 
existing  here.  There  are  seven  thousand  Southerners  now  in 
the  city  j  and  I  am  afraid  there  are  not  seven  hundred  among 
them  who  have  the  slightest  fear  of  God  before  their  eyes." 

Henry  Benson,  now  clerk  of  the  Anti-Slavery  Office  in 
Boston,  wrote  to  his  brother  George,  on  August  19,  of 
Thompson's  arrival  unmolested  on  the  18th,  and  imme 
diate  departure  for  Lynn  with  Mr.  Garrison ;  but  that  he 
was  not  safe  there  nor  in  Boston  or  vicinity  : 


"  I  believe  there  are  those  in  Boston  who  would  assassinate 
him  in  broad  daylight.  Did  you  know  the  state  of  feeling  here 
you  would  not  have  suggested  that  Brother  May  should  speak 
at  the  Faneuil  Hall  meeting.  Even  if  permission  were  granted, 
the  rabble  would  not  allow  him  a  hearing.  It  has  been  a  ques 
tion  with  our  friends  whether  they  should  attend  at  all.  Gar 
rison  nor  May  would  not  be  safe  there  on  an  evening,  and  I 
doubt  whether  they  would  not  meet  with  trouble  in  the  daytime. 
The  least  attempt  to  interfere  on  our  part  would  be  highly  dis 
advantageous,  as  the  meeting  is  called  by  an  expressed  class  of 
people, —  viz.,  those  opposed  to  immediate  abolition,  —  for  an 
express  purpose.  A  petition  is  being  signed  to  procure  the  Hall 
for  the  abolitionists,  but  it  will  unquestionably  be  denied.  After 
the  meeting  we  may  expect  a  mob.  The  Liberator  office  has  been 
threatened  in  consequence  of  the  article  on  Saturday.  We  are 
putting  out  an  address  to  the  public  which  will  be  ready  to-day. 
Ten  thousand  are  to  be  circulated  here  in  the  city.  Garrison 
drew  up  an  admirable  one,  but  they  could  not  swallow  it. 
Thought  it  most  too  fiery  for  the  present  time.  You  will  see 
it  in  the  next  Liberator.  It  is  equal  to  the  Declaration  of  Sen 
timents.  We  have  received  a  great  quantity  of  the  publications 
which  were  sent  to  the  South,  for  gratuitous  distribution  in  this 
city,  and  have  inserted  a  notice  to  that  effect  in  the  daily 
papers.  .  .  . 


MS.  Aug. 
19.  1835. 


Aug.  15, 
ante,  p.  489. 

Boston 

Advertiser, 

Aug.  20, 

1835- 


Lib.  5 : 134. 


492  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GABEISON.  [^T.  30. 

Aug.  14,  "  Five  thousand  dollars  were  offered  on  the  Exchange  in  New 

York  for  the  head  of  Arthur  Tappan  on  Friday  last.     Elizur 
Letters  of     Wright  is  barricading  his  house  with  shutters,  bars  and  bolts. 


"'!&'  •  •  •  Judge  Jay  has  been  with  us  two  or  three  days.  He  is 
as  firm  as  the  everlasting  hills." 

Lib.  5  :  134.  rpj^  protests  of  the  Massachusetts  Anti-Slavery  Society  1 
and  of  the  editor  of  the  Liberator  against  the  Southern 
and  pro-slavery  charge  of  sending  their  publications  to 
the  slaves  —  ("Not  one  of  the  Southern  editors/7  said 
Mr.  Garrison,  "  ventures  to  quote  a  single  paragraph  or 
sentence  from  the  'incendiary7  publications  which,  as 
they  declare,  have  been  sent  to  the  South  "  )  —  could  have 
no  effect  amid  the  thick-gathering  storm  of  public  and 
official  fury.  During  the  week  before  the  Faneuil  Hall 

Lib.  5:133,  meeting  assembled,  committees  of  vigilance  were  being 
formed  at  the  South  to  look  out  for  abolition  emissaries 
and  documents;  steamboats  and  railroad  trains  were  put 
under  surveillance  ;  the  mails  were  violated  with  impu 
nity.  At  a  public  meeting  in  the  Charleston  City  Hall, 
the  free  States  were  urged  to  manifest  their  disapproba 
tion  of  the  disseminators  of  a  "  moral  pestilence,"  not 
merely  by  word  of  mouth,  but  "  by  the  most  active,  zeal 
ous,  and  persevering  efforts"  to  put  them  and  their 
organizations  down;  and  it  was  firmly  declared  that  the 

Lib  .  5:I35>  post-office  could  not  constitutionally  be  made  an  instru 
ment  for  disseminating  publications  prohibited  from 
circulation  by  the  laws  of  any  State.  Worse  than  all, 
Jackson's  Postmaster-General,  Amos  Kendall,  despite 

Lib.  5  :  135.  his  Massachusetts  birth,  responded  to  the  postmaster  at 
Charleston  that  while  he  could  not  exclude  papers  from 
the  mails  for  their  tendency,  he  would  not  instruct  his 
subordinates  to  forward  them.  He  took  the  postmaster's 
word  for  it  that  the  papers  in  question  were  "  the  most 
inflammatory  and  incendiary  —  and  insurrectionary  in 

1  An  address  to  the  public,  in  the  same  sense,  written  by  William  Jay,  was 
put  forth  on  Sept.  3,  by  the  American  A.  S.  Society,  of  which  Judge  Jay  was 
the  Secretary  for  Foreign  Correspondence  ('Life  of  Arthur  Tappan,'  p.  246; 
Lib.  5  :  146  ;  Niks'  Register,  49  :  28). 


^ET.  30.]  THE   BOSTON   MOB. —  I.  493 

the  highest  degree."    "  We  owe,"  he  said,  "  an  obligation  CHAP.  xiv. 
to  the  laws,  but  a  higher  one  to  the  communities  in  which        ^5f 
we  live ;   if  the  former  be  perverted  to  destroy  the  latter, 
it  is  patriotism  to  disregard  them." l     "I  cannot,"  he 
continued,  "  sanction,  and  will  not  condemn,  the  step  you  • 
have  taken.     Your  justification  must  be  looked  for  in  the 
character  of  the  papers  detained,  and  the  circumstances 
by  which  you  are  surrounded." 

Even  more  frankly,  when  the  postmaster  in  New  York,2 
Jackson-like,  "took  the  responsibility"  of  refusing  to  £#.5:135. 
despatch  the  papers  of  the  American  Anti-Slavery  So 
ciety,  Kendall  wrote  him  that  he  could  not  sanction  his 
action,  but  would  do  the  same  thing  if  he  were  in  his  place. 
Postmasters  had  a  right  to  inspect  all  news  matter,  and 
if  this  tended  to  beget  the  commission  of  the  most  aggra 
vated  crimes,  it  was  their  duty  to  retain  it,  or  even  hand 
it  over  to  the  civil  authorities, — with  the  risk,  to  be  sure, 
of  suffering  for  improper  detention.  Anti-slavery  publi 
cations  tended  directly  to  produce  the  horrors  of  slave 
insurrection  at  the  South,  being  calculated  to  fill  every 
family  with  assassins.  Southern  demonstrations  against 
them,  as  "  power  which  is  exerted  in  palpable  self- 
defence,"  were  not  lawless.  Abolitionists  might  have  a 
right  to  circulate  their  documents  in  New  York,  where 
it  was  lawful,  but  not  in  Louisiana  or  Georgia.  The 
State  laws  against  such  circulation  were  not  voidable 
in  the  case  of  Federal  officials,  nor  could  postmasters 
and  mail-carriers  be  protected  against  the  penalties  of 
State  laws.  "Was  it  to  give  impunity  to  crime  that 

1  This  pro-slavery  "  higher-law  "  doctrine  was  identical  with  that  on  which 
the  right  of  secession  and  the  falsity  of  Federal  officers  to  their  oaths  were 
afterwards  based. 

2  Samuel  L.  Gouverneur,  son-in-law  of  ex-President  Monroe.     The  New 
York  Evening  Post,  edited  by  the  intrepid  William  Leggett,  alone  of  the 
party  press  of  that  city,  protested  against  the  postmaster's  action  (Lib.  5 : 
152 ;  Evening  Post,  Aug.  29,  1835).     On  August  19,  Henry  Benson  wrote  to 
his  brother  that  the  Liberators  for  Philadelphia  had  apparently  been  de 
tained  by  postmasters  and  boat  captains  (MS. )    All  delays  or  failures  of 
the  mail  naturally  came  to  be  attributed  to  the  same  cause  by  the  aboli 
tionists  (Lib.  5 : 137). 


494 


WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAKKISON. 


.  30. 


CHAP.  XIV. 

1835- 


Lib.  5 : 135, 
137;  6:71, 
75:  Life  of 
A.  Tappan, 
p.  165 ;  and 
pamphlet  re 
port  of  the 
trial. 


Ante,  p.  454. 


Lib.  5 :  135, 
141,159,162. 


the  several  States  came  into  the  Union,  and  conferred 
upon  the  General  Government  the  power  to  establish 
post-offices  and  post-roads?"  If  Congress  should  up 
hold  the  right  of  transmission,  the  South  would  have  to 
regard  that  body  as  a  common  enemy.1 

As  if  to  symbolize  the  Federal  impotence  to  maintain 
the  freedom  of  the  mails  and  the  freedom  of  speech 
in  its  special  Territory,  Dr.  Reuben  Crandall,  younger 
brother  of  Prudence  Crandall,  was  thrown  (August  17) 
into  a  noisome  jail  in  Georgetown,  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  on  a  charge  of  "  circulating  Tappan,  Gar 
rison  &  Co.'s  papers,  encouraging  the  negroes  to  in 
surrection,"  for  which  a  mob  would  fain  have  lynched 
him.2  Finally  (that  there  might  be  no  lack  of  topics 
for  the  Boston  "  town-meeting"),  on  August  10,  at 
Canaan,  N.  H.,  the  building  of  the  Noyes  Academy, 
opened  to  pupils  of  both  colors,3  was,  in  pursuance 
of  a  formal  town-meeting  vote  that  it  be  "  removed," 
dragged  by  one  hundred  yoke  of  oxen  from  the  land 
belonging  to  the  corporation  and  left  on  the  common ; 
three  hundred  yeomen  of  the  county  participating, 
and  consummating  their  outrage  with  "  resolutions " 
against  the  "  combination  of  disorganizers,  led  on  by  an 
Englishman  sent  to  this  country  to  sow  seeds  of  discord 
and  contention  between  the  North  and  the  South."  The 
teacher  and  colored  pupils  were  given  a  month  in  which 
to  quit  the  town. 

With  all  these  astonishing  evidences  of  the  far-reach 
ing  pretensions  and  authority  of  the  Slave  Power,  with 
the  disclaimers  of  the  abolitionists  spread  broadcast 
before  them,  and  with  copies  of  the  papers  suppressed  at 

1  With  a  lack  of  humor  surprising  in  a  Northern  man,  Kendall  approved 
Gouverneur's  course  on  this  ground,  among  others,  that  it  would  save  the 
South  the  trouble  of  destroying  obnoxious  mail  matter ! 

2  It  was  nearly  a  year  before  he  was  brought  to  trial,  and  meantime  his 
health  had  been  ruined  (Goodell's  '  Slavery  and  Freedom,'  p.  437 ;  Lib. 
8:31,  43). 

3  A  little  while  before,  the  Managers  of  the  Massachusetts  A.  S.  Society 
had  recommended  that  the  funds  raised  for  the  Manual  Labor  School  be 
turned  over  to  this  Academy  (Lib.  5: 105). 


.fflT.  30.]  THE  BOSTON   MOB. —  I.  495 

Charleston1  obtainable  gratuitously  at  the  Anti-Slavery  £^.5:135. 
Rooms ;  above  all,  with  full  knowledge  of  the  spirit  of 
violence  anxious  to  be  loosed  against  the  abolitionists 
in  the  midst  of  them,  the  social,  political,  religious  and 
intellectual  elite  of  Boston 2  filled  Faneuil  Hall  on  the 
afternoon  of  Friday,  August  21  —  Mayor  Theodore 
Lyman,  Jr.,3  being  in  the  chair,  and  Abbott  Lawrence  a 
vice-president  —  to  draw  up  an  indictment  against  their 
fellow-citizens.  The  preliminary  resolutions  confessed  £^.5:139. 
Boston's  eagerness  to  lead  in  bowing  to  the  Southern 
demand  for  a  general  Northern  manifesto  against  the 
abolitionists ;  belittled  the  number  of  the  agitators ;  ac 
cused  them  of  wishing  to  "  scatter  among  our  Southern 
brethren  firebrands,  arrows,  and  death,"  and  of  attempt 
ing  to  force  abolition  by  appeals  to  the  terror  of  the 
masters  and  the  passions  of  the  slaves  j  and  denounced 
with  "  indignation  and  disgust  the  intrusion  upon  our 
domestic  relations  of  alien  emissaries  sustained  by  the 
funds  of  a  foreign  people."  They  pledged  the  meeting  to 
support  with  all  its  might  constitutional  laws  applicable 
to  overt  acts  growing  out  of  measures  "  the  natural  and 
direct  tendency  of  which  is  to  excite  the  slaves  of  the 
South  to  revolt,  or  of  spreading  [sic]  among  them  a  spirit 
of  insubordination."  At  the  same  time,  they  deprecated 
all  riotous  or  violent  proceedings.  For  the  rest,  the  pro- 
slavery  compromises  of  1789,  the  solemn  obligation  of 
the  Constitutional  compact,  and  the  necessity  of  depriv- 

1  They  had  been  addressed  only  to  respectable  free  citizens  at.  the  South 
(Lib.  5:135). 

2  The  call  for  the  meeting  had  1500  signatures,  filling  one  and  a  half  solid 
columns  of  fine  print  in  the  Daily  Advertiser.     Among  the  signers  were 
some  who  were  abolitionists  by  nature,  and  presently  became  so  in  name 
and  generous  deed.     We  need  only  mention  Samuel  May,  uncle  of  S.  J. 
May,  and  Charles  F.  Hovey. 

3  Mr.  Lyman  was  born  Feb.  22,  1792,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  College 
in  1810.     His  interest  in  the  State  militia  secured  him  the  rank  of  Briga 
dier-General,  and  the  customary  title  of  General.     He  was  mayor  of  Boston 
for  the  years  1834-35,  and  died  in  1849.     His  relation  to  the  abolitionists, 
as  about  to  be  described,  was  typical  of  that  of  the  best  citizens,  among 
whom  for  humanity  and  public  spirit  Mr.  Lyman  was  justly  held  in  the 
highest  esteem. 


496  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GAKKISON.  [^T.  30. 


CHAP.  xiv.   ing  the  South  of  a  pretext  for  disunion,  furnished  the 
jSgs.        staple  of  the  bill  of  fare  upon  which  Richard  Fletcher,1 
Peleg  Sprague,  and  Harrison  Gray  Otis  were  presently 
to  enlarge. 

1812.  Peleg  Sprague,  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  a  graduate 

of  Harvard  College,  a  distinguished  lawyer,  a  member  of 

1825-29.      the  lower  House  of  Congress  for  four  years,  just  retired 

1829-35.      from  a  six  years'  term  in  the  Senate,  where  he  repre 

sented  the  State  of  Maine,  and  now  come  to  Boston  to 

resume   the   practice   of   his   profession,   was  an  ideal 

mouthpiece  of  Northern  respectability.     If  his  discourse 

was  heated  and  malevolent  towards  the  abolitionists,  the 

feelings  of  the  populace  could  safely  be  inferred  by  the 

£#.5:141.  South.  He  did,  in  fact,  assert  that  their  language  and 
measures  clearly  tended  to  insurrection  and  violence; 
that  if  their  sentiments  prevailed,  it  would  be  all  over 
with  the  Union,  which  would  give  place  to  two  hostile 
confederacies,  with  forts  and  standing  armies.  As  to 
their  doctrine  that  there  was  a  higher  law  than  the 
Constitution,  and  something  above  the  Union,  —  that  no 
law  sanctioning  slavery  could  have  any  moral  obliga 
tion,  and  that  slaveholders  were  detestable  and  abhor 
rent  and  the  North  should  have  no  communion  with 
them  —  "Time  was/7  he  exclaimed,  "  when  such  senti 
ments  and  such  language  would  not  have  been  tfreathed 
in  this  community;  and  here,  on  this  hallowed  spot, 
of  all  the  places  on  earth,  should  they  be  met  and 
rebuked.'7 

Lib.  5  :  141.  "  Time  was,  when  .  .  .  the  generous  and  gallant  South 
rons  came  to  our  aid,  and  our  fathers  refused  not  to  hold 
communion  with  slaveholders.2  .  .  .  When  HE,  that  slave- 

1  An  eminent  lawyer,  a  native  of  Vermont,  who  came  to  Boston  in  1825. 
He  did  not  long  remain  in  the  ranks  of  repression.     In  1838  he  was  ready 
to   have  Congress   abolish   slavery  in   the   District   and   the  inter-State 
slave  trade,  and  to  exclude  new  slave  States  from  the  Union  (Lib.  8  :  179). 
As  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  in  the  25th   Congress 
(1837-39),  he  supported  Mr.  Giddings  in  agitating  for  the  first-named  end 
(Buell's  '  Joshua  E.  Giddings,1  p.  91). 

2  Very  naturally,  as  they  were  slaveholders  themselves. 


^T.  30.]  THE  BOSTON   MOB. —  I.  497 

holder  [pointing  to  the  full-length  portrait  of  Washington],1  CHAP.  XIV. 
who  from  this  canvas  smiles  upon  you — his  children  —  with  I{JTS 
paternal  benignity,  came  with  other  slaveholders  to  drive  the 
British  myrmidons  from  this  city  and  this  hall,  our  fathers 
did  not  refuse  to  hold  communion  with  him  or  them.  With 
slaveholders  they  formed  the  Confederation,  neither  asking 
nor  receiving  any  right  to  interfere  in  their  domestic  relations  ; 
with  them  they  made  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  coming 
from  the  pen  of  that  other  slaveholder,  Thomas  Jefferson,  a  name 
dear  to  every  friend  of  human  rights.2  And  in  the  original 
draft  of  that  Declaration  was  contained  a  most  eloquent  pas 
sage  upon  this  very  topic  of  negro  slavery,  which  was  stricken 
out  in  deference  to  the  wishes  of  members  from  the  South." 

Mr.  Sprague  taunted  the  abolitionists  with  their  pru 
dence  in  not  going  South,  albeit  they  professed  that  one 
ought  to  do  right  regardless  of  consequences.  Then, 
still  further  to  incite  at  home  the  violence  they  would 
have  been  sure  to  encounter  there,  he  singled  out  George 
Thompson,  by  saying :  the  anti-slavery  doctrines 

"  have  attained  their  greatest  prevalence  and  intensity  within  Lib.  5 : 141. 
the  past  year,  since  a  certain  notorious  foreign  agent  first 
landed  upon  our  shores  ;  ...  an  avowed  emissary,  sustained  by 
foreign  funds,  a  professed  agitator  upon  questions  deeply,  pro 
foundly  political,  which  lay  at  the  very  foundation  of  our 
Union.  .  .  .  He  comes  here  from  the  dark  and  corrupt 
institutions  of  Europe  to  enlighten  us  upon  the  rights  of  man 
and  the  moral  duties  of  our  own  condition.  Received  by  our 
hospitality,3  he  stands  here  upon  our  soil,  protected  by  our 
laws,  and  hurls  l  firebrands,  arrows  and  death'  into  the  habita 
tions  of  our  neighbors,  and  friends,  and  brothers ;  and  when 

1  So  far  was  the  sense  of  shame  for  the  national  guilt  of  slavery,  or  for  the 
only  blot  on  the  character  of  Washington,  from  having  seized  upon  the 
most  cultivated   and  respectable  classes  at  the  North,  that  this  allusion 
produced  "an  effect  perfectly  electrical"  ('Baptists  in  America,'  p.  387) ; 
and  so  far  were  they  from  suspecting  the  nearness  of  the  overthrow  of 
slavery,  that  Peleg  Sprague  retained  this  speech  and  this  passage  in  the 
volume  of  his  collected  '  Speeches  and  Addresses '  published  in  Boston  in 
1858  (p.  449). 

2  Nothing  could  more  strikingly  illustrate  the  cant  begotten  by  a  demo 
cratic  constitution  based  on  compromises  with  slavery  than  such  a  sentence 
in  such  a  connection.     And  what  shall  be  said  of  the  artifice  of  concealing 
the  public  testimonies  of  both  Washington  and  Jefferson  against  slavery ! 

3  See  Thompson's  first  taste  of  it  on  landing,  ante,  p.  451. 

VOL.  L— 32 


498  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GAKKISON.  [JET.  30. 

CHAP.  XIV.    he  shall  have  kindled  a  conflagration  which  is  sweeping  in 
lg~  desolation  over  the  land,  he  has  only  to  embark  for  his  own 

country,  and  there  look  serenely  back  with  indifference  or 
exultation  upon  the  wide-spread  ruin  by  which  our  cities  are 
wrapt  in  flames,  and  our  garments  rolled  in  blood.  ...  If 
the  storm  comes,  we  must  abide  its  pelting;  if  convulsions 
come,  we  must  be  in  the  midst  of  them.  To  us,  then,  it  belongs 
to  judge  of  the  exigencies  of  our  own  condition,  to  provide  for 
our  own  safety,  and  perform  our  own  duties  without  the  auda 
cious  interference  of  foreign  emissaries." 

Such  incendiary  language,  whatever  its  motive,  could 
have  but  one  logical  effect  in  a  community  so  over 
wrought  as  that  of  Boston.  When  the  orator,  in  con 
clusion,  bade  the  philanthropist  go  back  to  England, 
and  see  if  he  would  be  safe  in  denouncing  the  wrongs  of 
Ireland  and  of  India ; 1  and  declared  that  Christ  did  not 
denounce  Roman  slavery  in  his  native  country,  and  was 
no  immediate  abolitionist  ("  No,  his  precept  was,  '  Ser 
vants  [slaves],  obey  your  masters/")?  but  allowed  his 
religion  to  work  changes  in  the  condition  of  mankind  by 
degrees,  he  had  enumerated  nearly  all  of  the  stock  argu 
ments  against  emancipation  which  were  available  in  the 
next  twenty-five  years  of  moral  conflict. 

Harrison  Gray  Otis,  who  followed  Peleg  Sprague,  was, 
1817-22.  like  him,  an  eminent  lawyer  and  ex-Senator  of  the  United 
States,  and  more  recently  mayor  of  Boston,  where  few 
names,  personal  or  family,2  were  held  in  greater  honor. 
He  was  a  consummate  orator,  and  his  speech  on  this 
occasion  was  more  measured  and  less  violent  than  his 
colleague's,  but  even  better  calculated  to  make  "  society  " 
tolerate  mob  violence  against  the  abolitionists.  He  began 
Lib.  5 : 144.  by  affirming  that  to  debate  the  expediency  of  abolishing 
slavery  was  the  same  as  to  debate  that  of  abolishing  the 
Union  —  a  truism  which  in  time  Mr.  Garrison  acknowl 
edged  by  making  disunion  a  policy.  Fresh  from  his  first 

1  It  will  appear  hereafter  how  much  Mr.  Thompson's  Indian  labors  in  the 
meantime  reconciled  the  Spragues  to  him  on  his  second  visit  to  America,  in 
1851. 

2  He  was  a  nephew  of  James  Otis,  of  Revolutionary  fame. 


^T.  30.]  THE   BOSTON   MOB. — I.  499 

reading  of  the  anti-slavery  constitutions  and  proceedings,  CHAP.  xiv. 
with  their  frank  avowal  of  an  intention  "  to  propagate  a  x^ 
general  sentiment  favorable  to  the  immediate  abolition 
of  slavery,"  the  speaker  was  prepared  to  denounce  the 
Society  as  a  "dangerous  association.77  If  "not  yet  an 
unlawful  association  (which  some  sound  jurists  think  it 
is),  it  is  in  a  fair  way  to  become  so,  by  its  design  to  trench 
upon  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution  by  overt  acts,  and 
its  tendency  to  break  down  the  sacred  Palladium.77  Its 
immediatism  makes  it  a  revolutionary  society ;  and  "  I 
deny,77  said  Mr.  Otis,  "  that  any  body  of  men  can  lawfully 
associate  for  the  purpose  of  undermining,  more  than  for 
overthrowing,  the  government  of  our  sister  States.  There 
may  be  no  statute  to  make  such  combinations  penal,  be 
cause  the  offence  is  of  a  new  complexion.77  He  endorsed 
the  Southern  view,  that  the  case  was  analogous  to  inter 
national  interference.  "  To  all  this  they  [the  abolitionists] 
have  the  temerity  to  answer  that  their  construction  of  the 
Constitution  is  the  same  with  that  of  Mr.  Webster l  and 
other  jurists :  that  they  aim  at  abolition  only  with  the 
consent  of  the  slaveholding  States.77  Then,  why  don7t 
they  go  South  to  present  their  appeals  ?  To  send  them 
through  the  mails  and  otherwise  was  shocking.  Their 
printed  documents,  for  which  "  the  Scriptures  have  been 
eviscerated  from  Genesis  to  Revelations,  to  supply  their 
armory  of  wrath,77  and  some  of  which  are  "  illuminated 
with  graphic  insignia  of  terror  and  oppression  —  with 
pictorial  chains,  and  handcuffs,  and  whips,77  "they  gravely 
say  are  for  the  master  and  not  for  the  slave77 ;  but  "such 
a  pretext  is  an  insult  to  common  sense.77  If  slaves  are 
taught  to  read  the  Bible,  as  "  a  great  champion  of  aboli 
tion  77  recently  proposed,  they  can  read  these  tracts. 

Mr.  Otis  found  an  even  stronger  objection  to  the 
Society  in  "its  evident  direction  towards  becoming  a 
political  association,  whose  object  it  will  be,  and  whose 
tendency  now  is,  to  bear  directly  upon  the  ballot-boxes 

l  Webster,  Choate  and  Everett  were  conspicuously  absent  from  the  Faneuil 
Hall  meeting  (Lib.  5 : 142). 


500  WILLIAM   LLOYD    GAKKISON.  [^T.  30. 


Ante,  p.  455.  and  to  influence  the  elections/'  as  in  the  recent  case  of 
Abbott  Lawrence.  "  How  soon  might  you  see  a  majority 
in  Congress  returned  under  the  influence  of  [anti-slavery] 
associations  V  He  exhorted  the  abolitionists  to  consider 
the  consequences  of  their  agitation  already  —  in  riots 
and  lynch  law  ;  denounced  the  "  higher  law  "  5  denied 
that  the  Scriptures  were  anywhere  opposed  to  slavery  ; 
repeated  that  Christ  "was  not  an  immediatist  "  ;  said 
that  charity  began  at  home  ;  and  closed  by  depicting  the 
horrors  of  a  servile  insurrection,  of  which  the  result 
would  be  extermination  on  one  side  or  the  other. 

Such  was,  in  brief,  the  nature  of  the  Whig  Faneuil 
Hall  demonstration,  whose  local  weightiness,  and  im- 
pressiveness  for  the  country  at  large,  can  now  hardly  be 
appreciated  to  the  full.  It  exposed  the  abolitionists  to 
public  odium  as  disorganizers,  seeking  unconstitutional 
ends  by  unconstitutional  means,  aiming  to  excite  a 
servile  insurrection  under  pretext  of  enlightening  the 
masters,  and  calling  to  their  aid  the  hereditary  foreign 
enemies  of  the  republic  ;  who  were  responsible  for  popu 
lar  tumults  directed  against  themselves,  and  whose  further 
tolerance  meant  a  speedy  end  of  the  Union  between  the 
States.  Not  a  syllable  was  uttered  in  protest  against  the 
Charleston  bonfire,  or  against  the  unconstitutional  de 
cision  of  the  Postmaster-General,  by  which  every  post 
master  was  authorized  to  judge  what  publications  had  a 
"  tendency  "  to  produce  certain  evil  results,  and  to  refuse 
them  circulation  in  the  mails  —  a  censorship  never  sur 
passed  in  the  most  despotic  country  on  earth,  and,  if 
never  possible  of  enforcement  at  the  North,  never  re 
laxed  at  the  South  till  slavery  went  under  in  blood  and 
fire.  '  Not  even  the  jealousy  of  party  spirit  warned 
against  such  Democratic  autocracy.1  Neither  the  future 

l  "  Suppose  the  friends  of  Judge  White  [Hugh  Lawson  White,  of  Ten 
nessee,  a  Presidential  candidate  of  the  time],  at  the  South,  should  appoint 
committees  to  plunder  the  mail  of  all  letters  and  newspapers  which  espoused 
the  cause  of  Mr.  Van  Buren  ;  how  long  would  the  partizans  of  the  latter 
gentleman  submit  to  the  robbery  ?  "  (W.  L.  G.  in  Lib.  5:  139).  Both  Judge 
White  and  John  C.  Calhoun  suspected  that  their  private  correspondence 


^ET.  30.]  THE  BOSTON   MOB. — I.  501 

Judge  Sprague  nor  his  brother  lawyer,  neither  Mayor  CHAP.  xiv. 
Otis  declaiming  nor  Mayor  Lyman  presiding,  and  all        T^ 
paving  the  way  for  riot  in  the  streets  of  Boston,  be 
thought  them  of  Judge  Thacher's  law  of  libel  (as  appli-    Ante,  p.  310. 
cable  to  their  printed  speeches  and  resolutions  as  to  the 
Liberator)  —  "  Every  publication  which  has  a  tendency  to 
promote  public  mischief,  whether  by  causing  irritation  * 

in  the  minds  of  the  people  that  may  induce  them  to  com 
mit  a  breach  of  the  public  peace,  ...  is  a  libel." 
Not  one  of  them  had,  either  then  or  to  his  dying  day, 
the  smallest  scruple  for  having  committed  the  genuine 
libel  which  consists  in  falsifying  the  character  and  pur 
poses  of  others,  and  holding  them  up  to  general  execra 
tion  and  abuse. 

But  this  sort  of  libel  was  the  natural  utterance  of 
every  "respectable"  Whig  Bostonian  when  alluding  to 
the  abolitionists.  Take,  for  example,  that  future  orna 
ment  of  the. Supreme  Court,  Benjamin  Bobbins  Curtis, 
who  wrote  to  Mr.  George  Ticknor,  then  abroad,  under 
date  of  August  23,  1835 : 

"The  topic  which  engrosses  the  public  attention,  to  the  Memoir  of 
exclusion  of  almost  every  other,  is  the  '  Anti- Slavery  Society.'  '  I '.  ^  * 
You  will  see  by  the  newspapers,  which  I  suppose  you  receive, 
that  a  great  meeting  has  been  held  at  Faneuil  Hall  on  this  sub 
ject.  It  was  caused  by  the  excitement  which  exists  through  all 
the  slaveholding  States,  in  consequence  of  the  efforts  of  that 
Society  to  excite  the  slaves  to  insurrection.  Dreadful  scenes 
have  already  occurred  in  Mississippi.  The  mob  have  hung 
numerous  persons,  suspected  of  being  emissaries  of  the  Society, 
without  legal  trial ;  and  so  great  have  been  the  commotions 
excited  in  many  parts  of  the  South,  and  so  excited  is  the  public 
mind  there,  that  there  are  strong  fears  felt  here  by  the  friends 
of  the  Union  that,  unless  something  is  done  here  to  check  the 
abolitionists,  and  convince  the  South  that  the  great  body  of 
the  people  of  the  Northern  States  are  unfavorable  to  the 
Society,  the  Union  will  not  continue  for  a  single  year.  All 

was  tampered  with  by  their  political  opponents  in  the  post-office  (Lib.  6 : 64) ; 
and  as  early  as  1830,  Henry  Clay,  "to  guard  against  the  treachery  of  the 
post-office,"  advised  Webster  to  address  him  under  cover,  and  proposed  to 
do  the  same  in  return  (Webster's  'Private  Correspondence,'  1:505). 


502  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GAKKISON.  O&T.  30. 

CHAP.  XIV.  those  persons  in  the  Southern  States  who  are  enemies  to  the 
Union  have  seized  the  present  occasion,  and  are  endeavoring 
to  do  their  utmost  to  increase  the  excitement.  Some  idea  may 
be  formed  of  the  interest  felt  in  the  subject,  from  the  fact  that 
numerous  Southern  gentlemen  came  from  all  parts  of  the 
country  to  be  present  at  the  meeting.  You  will  see  the  result 
of  the  meeting  in  the  newspapers,  and  we  are  all  glad  it  is  so 
*  well  over.  Would  that  the  whole  subject  could  be  as  easily 

disposed  of ! " 

The  presence  of  Southern  gentlemen  in  Boston  in 
great  numbers,  naturally  expecting  to  see  pro- Southern 
words  confirmed  by  pro-Southern  deeds,  and  to  lend  a 
hand  if  need  be,  rendered  the  city  for  the  time  being  no 
place  for  the  leader  of  the  abolitionists.1  On  the  day 
following  the  meeting,  Mr.  Garrison  and  his  wife  left 
their  home  at  23  Brighton  Street2  for  "Friendship's 
Valley."  The  Liberator,  appearing  on  the  same  day, 

Lib.  5 : 135.  gave  this  preliminary  notice  of  the  occasion  which  Mr. 
Curtis  rejoiced  was  "so  well  over":  " Yesterday  after 
noon  this  building  [Faneuil  Hall]  was  turned  into  a 
worse  than  Augean  stable,  by  the  pollutions  of  a  pro- 
slavery  meeting  held  for  the  first  time  within  its  vener 
able  walls.  .  .  .  Call  it  no  longer  the  CRADLE  OF 
LIBERTY,  but  the  REFUGE  OF  SLAVERY."  This  meet- 

£#.5:139.  ing,  it  said  later,  proves  the  guilt  of  New  England 
to  be  equal  to  that  of  the  South,  and  answers  conclu 
sively  the  senseless  inquiry,  "  Why  don't  you  go  to  the 
South  ?"  Abolitionists  would  not  be  disturbed  or  intimi 
dated  by  it.  "  Having  now  our  own  liberties  to  gain,  in 
addition  to  those  of  the  slaves,  (for  tyranny  has  become 
universal,  and  our  own  rights  as  men  and  as  citizens 
are  trampled  in  the  dust,)  we  have  new  motives  to  urge 
us  forward  in  the  great  cause  of  universal  emancipation." 

1  Anonymous  menaces  through  the  post-office  had  already  recommenced 
(Lib.  5:135). 

2  In  May,  they  had  removed  from  "  Freedom's  Cottage  "  to  a  boarding- 
house  on  Guild  Row  (now  Washington  Street),  near  Dudley  Street.    In 
the  course  of  a  few  weeks,  to  oblige  Mr.  Thompson,  they  had  taken  off  his 
hands  the  lease  of  the  house  on  Brighton  Street— in  convenient  proximity 
to  the  city  jail.     See  the  map  in  the  first  chapter  of  the  next  volume. 


-fflT.30.]  THE  BOSTON  MOB. — I.  503 

"This  meeting  will  not  satisfy  the  South — it  will  not  CHAP. xiv. 
even  mitigate  their  anger.  Nothing  will  suit  them  but  isJ5. 
an  open  advocacy  of  perpetual  slavery,  and  the  suppres 
sion  of  anti-slavery  publications  by  penal  enactments.1 
So,  Bostonians,  you  have  disgraced  yourselves  in  vain, 
and  will  receive  in  exchange  for  your  servility  an  abun 
dance  of  kicks,  cuffs,  and  curses  —  from  your  chivalrous 
brethren  at  the  South."  "  As  to  the  Mayor  of  Boston, 
in  presiding  at  this  liberty-hating  meeting,  we  shall 
have  something  to  say  about  his  consistency  and  im 
partiality." 

In  the  same  number,  Mr.  Garrison  defended  George 
Thompson  by  an  extended  parallel  between  his  mission 
and  methods  and  Lafayette's ;  and  again,  in  an  article 
headed  "  Forbearance  of  the  Abolitionists,"  considered 
the  causes  which  would  justify  their  rising  in  defence  of 
their  rights : 

"  Utterly  deprived  of  that  protection  and  of  those  immunities  Lib.  5 : 139. 
which  belong  to  them  as  citizens,  and  given  up  to  be  the  prey 
of  ruffians  and  assassins,  the  popular  theory  of  self-defence  and 
the  example  of  worldly  patriotism  in  all  ages  authorize  them  to 
resist  unto  blood — to  proclaim  a  war  of  extermination — to 
light  up  the  fires  of  a  new  revolution  —  and  to  rally  together 
upon  the  i  tented  field,'  armed  and  equipped  for  mortal  combat. 
As  a  body,  moreover,  they  are  numerous.  In  physical  strength 
and  courage,  as  well  as  moral,  they  are  powerful.  The  causes 
which  induced  our  revolutionary  fathers  to  rush  to  the  strife  of  bloody 
were  as  dust  in  the  balance,  compared  with  the  anguish,  outrage  and 
peril  to  which  abolitionists  are  subjected. 

11  Now,  then,  in  view  of  this  epitome  of  facts,  let  the  inquiry 
be  made,  How  have  the  abolitionists  behaved  under  all  these 
provocations,  and  exposed  to  all  imaginable  suffering  ?  Have 
they,  in  a  single  instance,  returned  evil  for  evil  ?  Who, 

l  Instantly  confirmed  by  the  comments  of  the  Richmond  papers  on  the 
meeting  (Lib.  5:146).  Thus,  the  Whig,  of  Aug.  27:  "The  people  of  the 
North  must  go  to  hanging  these  fanatical  wretches  if  they  would  not  lose 
the  benefit  of  Southern  trade  ;  and  they  will  do  it."  The  Enquirer  declared 
that  the  failure  of  Northern  legislatures  to  restrain  abolitionists  from  acts 
of  aggression  would  be  regarded  as  acquiescence,  and  the  South  would 
take  decisive  measures  of  defence,  beginning  with  no  fellowship,  social  or 
political. 


504  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKBISON.  [^T.  30. 


CHAP.  XIV.  among  them  all,  has  given  blow  for  blow  ?  or  who  has 
j^5  girded  on  his  sword?  or  who  has  recommended  an  appeal 
to  force  ?  Would  not  such  conduct,  on  their  part,  astonish 
even  their  enemies  ?  When  rotten  eggs  and  brickbats  have 
been  hurled  at  their  heads,  what  have  they  sent  in  return  ? 
Forgiveness.  When  tar-and-feathers  have  been  prepared  for 
their  persons,  what  recompense  have  they  bestowed  ?  Forgive 
ness.  When  their  private  and  public  meetings  have  been  ruth 
lessly  invaded,  what  course  have  they  adopted  to  prevent  a 
repetition  of  the  outrage  ?  Forgiveness.  When  their  property 
has  been  burnt  in  the  streets,  and  their  lives  hunted  like  par 
tridges  upon  the  mountains,  what  have  they  manifested  by  way 
of  retaliation  ?  Still  —  forgiveness  !  Why  ?  Are  they  pusillan 
imous  ?  Do  they  lack  nerve  ?  No.  But  they  fear  Him  who 
says  —  l  Vengeance  is  MINE  —  I  will  repay  ;  '  and  they  can 
love  their  enemies,  bless  them  that  curse,  do  good  to  them  that 
hate,  and  pray  for  them  which  despitefully  use  and  persecute 
them. 

"  We  appeal  to  the  world.  The  Society  of  Friends  aside, 
what  other  body  of  men,  whether  political  or  religious,  besides 
abolitionists,  would  suffer  themselves  to  be  insulted  and  out 
raged,  and  their  meetings  forcibly  suppressed  or  systematically 
interrupted  by  their  opponents,  without  making  a  prompt  and 
violent  appeal  to  the  lex  talionis  f  .  .  . 

"  Thanks  be  to  God  that  the  abolitionists  are  generally  men 
of  peace.  The  spirit  of  non-resistance  and  of  forgiveness  is 
omnipotent." 

From  his  tranquil  retreat  at  Friendship's  Valley,  Mr. 
Garrison  sent  to  the  Liberator  his  unstinted  comments 
upon  the  principal  speeches  at  the  Faneuil  Hall  meeting, 
Lib.  5  :  142.  beginning  with  a  letter  to  the  Hon.  Peleg  Sprague. 
Whatever  respect  he  had  hitherto  cherished  for  this 
person's  character  as  a  patriot  and  statesman,  had  fled 
on  perusing  his  late  speech.  "  In  my  opinion,  there  is 
not  more  of  crime,  or  of  moral  turpitude,  in  firing  a 
whole  city  —  in  committing  highway  robbery  or  murder 
—  than  in  the  delivery  of  such  a  speech,  in  such  a  place, 
on  such  an  occasion,  and  under  such  circumstances." 
Human  barbarity  towards  one's  fellow-creatures,  or 
impiety  towards  heaven,  could  go  no  further.  At  the 
judgment  day,  Mr.  Sprague  would  be  answerable,  as 


^ET.  30.]  THE   BOSTON   MOB. —  I.  505 

far  as  one  man  could  be,  for  all  the  horrors  of  American   CHAP  xiv. 
slavery.  l8^5 

"  Where  are  you,  sir  ?  In  amicable  companionship  and  pop-  Lib.  5 : 142. 
ular  repute  with  thieves  and  adulterers  j  with  slaveholders, 
slave-dealers,  and  slave -destroyers  j  with  those  who  call  the 
beings  whom  God  created  but  a  little  lower  than  the  angels, 
things  and  chattels;  with  the  proscribers  of  the  great  chart 
of  eternal  life ;  with  the  rancorous  enemies  of  the  friends 
of  universal  emancipation  5  with  the  disturbers  of  the  public 
peace  j  with  the  robbers  of  the  public  mail  j  with  ruffians  who 
insult,  pollute  and  lacerate  helpless  women ;  and  with  conspir 
ators  against  the  lives  and  liberties  of  New  England  citizens. 
These  facts  are  undeniable.  Talk  not  of  more  honorable  asso 
ciates,  for  no  men  deserve  that  epithet  who  throw  the  weight  of 
their  influence  into  the  scale  of  oppression.  Peradventure,  you 
will  ask,  in  due  time,  for  the  suffrages  of  Bostonians.  Sir,  we 
will  remember  you  at  the  polls  !  .  .  . 

"  Sir,  the  Faneuil  Hall  meeting,  though  intended  to  strengthen 
the  feeble  hands  and  comfort  the  desponding  hearts  of  South 
ern  taskmasters,  will  in  the  sequel  prove  of  more  benefit  to  out- 
cause  than  forty  anti-slavery  lectures  and  twice  that  number  of 
tracts,  prodigious  as  is  their  moral  effect.  It  has  already  mul 
tiplied  our  converts,  animated  our  zeal,  and  emboldened  our 
spirit.  .  .  . 

"  I  mean  to  make  your  harangue,  and  the  speeches  of  your 
associates,  of  signal  use  in  the  anti-slavery  struggle.  They  are 
crowded  with  evidence  of  our  national  guilt,  and  clearly  prove 
every  allegation  that  has  fallen  from  the  lips  of  abolitionists  — 
as  shall  be  shown  in  the  progress  of  this  review.  Upon  your 
authority,  henceforth,  will  I  arraign  the  people  of  the  free 
States — of  New  England — of  Massachusetts — as  the  abettors, 
upholders  and  guardians  of  as  tyrannous  a  system  as  the  sun 
has  looked  down  upon  since  his  creation.  Upon  your  authority 
I  will  prove  that  there  is  not  a  drop  of  blood  extracted  from 
the  bodies,  nor  a  tear  which  falls  from  the  eyes,  nor  a  groan 
which  bursts  from  the  bosoms  of  the  heart-broken  slaves,  for 
which  the  North  is  not  directly  responsible.  Sir,  the  more 
searchingly  I  investigate  this  great  subject,  the  stronger  is  my 
conviction  that  hitherto  I  have  erred — nay,  that  I  have  been 
alike  unwise  and  partial — in  declaiming  so  much  against 
Southern,  and  so  little  against  Northern  criminality.  I  am  not 
sure — especially  since  reading  the  speeches  above  alluded  to  — 


506  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKKISON.  [^T.  30. 


CHAP.  XIV.   that,  in  the  sight  of  God,  (and  it  is  of  very  little  consequence 
jj~  how  we  stand  in  the  sight  of  men),  there  is  not  more  guilt 

attaching  to  the  people  of  the  free  States  from  the  continuance 
of  slavery,  than  in  those  of  the  slave  States.  At  least,  I  am 
ready  to  affirm,  upon  your  authority,  that  New  England  is  as 
really  a  slaveholding  section  of  the  republic  as  Georgia  or 
South  Carolina  !  " 

To  Peleg  Sprague's  taunt  that  the  abolitionists  affirmed 
"we  must  do  right,  regardless  of  consequences,"  but 
carefully  avoided  going  to  the  South  where  they  should 
most  desire  to  make  converts,  Mr.  Garrison  rejoined  : 

Lib.  5  -.  142.  "  Sir?  there  may  be  wit,  but  there  is  little  truth,  in  the  above 
extract.  To  do  right  is  always  to  regard  consequences,  both  to 
ourselves  and  to  others.  Since  you  are  pleased  to  banter  us  for 
prosecuting  our  labors  at  the  North,  I  will  take  for  my  text  the 
interrogation  that  is  so  constantly,  either  by  ignorance  or  im 
pudence,  propounded  to  us.  It  is  this  : 

"  '  Why  don't  you  go  to  the  South  ?  ' 

"  I  proudly  answer  —  Not  because  we  are  afraid  to  go  there. 
Not  because  we  are  not  prepared  for  danger,  persecution,  out 
rage,  and  death.  Not  because  the  dungeon,  or  the  halter,  the- 
rack  or  the  stake,  appals  us.  Yet  the  question  is  sneeringly 
put,  and  sometimes  with  murder  evidently  in  the  heart,  as  if 
we  were  deficient  in  fortitude  and  courage,  with  all  our  seem 
ing  boldness.  *  0,  forsooth,  it  is  very  safe  and  convenient  for 
Mr.  Garrison  to  denounce  the  holders  of  slaves  a  thousand 
miles  off,  in  Boston.  A  great  deal  of  heroism  is  required  to  do 
this  !  But  he  is  very  careful  to  keep  out  of  the  slave  States. 
Why  don't  he  go  to  the  South  ?  Let  him  go  there  and  denounce 
slavery,  and  we  will  then  believe  that  he  is  sincere.' 

"  This  is  the  language  which  is  constantly  uttered  —  by  men, 
too,  permit  me  to  say,  who  have  never  peculiarly  signalized 
themselves  in  any  hazardous  enterprise,  whether  moral  or 
physical.  I  am  vain  enough  to  believe  that  those  who  bring 
this  charge  of  cowardice  against  me,  do  not  doubt  my  readiness 
to  go  wherever  duty  requires.  Will  they  give  me  no  credit  for 
having  published  an  anti-  slavery  publication  in  Maryland,  as 
long  as  it  could  be  sustained  by  meagre  patronage  ?  —  a  publi 
cation  in  which  my  denunciations  of  slavery  and  slaveholders 
were  as  severe  as  any  to  be  found  in  the  Liberator.  Did  my 
spirit  quail  under  my  imprisonment  in  a  Southern  cell,  for 


J3T.30.]  THE   BOSTON   MOB. —  I.  507 

denouncing  the  domestic  slave  trade  I  And  is  it  indeed  true  CHAP.  XIV. 
that  I  am  hazarding  neither  my  safety  nor  my  life  in  my  advo-  ^ 
cacy  of  freedom  in  Boston  *?  Has  no  endurance,  no  unusual 
courage,  been  required  to  oppose  all  classes  of  society,  and  to 
sustain  the  odium,  derision  and  hatred  of  a  slaveholding 
nation  ?  Is  it  nothing  to  have  large  rewards  offered  by  a 
Southern  legislature,  and  by  private  combinations,  for  my 
seizure  and  destruction  ?  Sir,  slaveholders  and  their  apologists 
may  call  me  a  fanatic  —  they  may  call  me  a  madman,  or  an  in 
cendiary,  or  an  agitator,  and  believe  me  to  be  such ;  but  to  call 
me  a  coward — that  is  an  epithet  which  they  have  too  much 
good  sense  to  believe  is  applicable  to  me,  although  they  have 
so  small  a  modicum  of  conscience  as  to  resort  to  it.  The 
Southern  oppressors  themselves  regard  me  in  any  other  light 
than  that  of  a  craven :  all  the  trembling,  and  shrinking,  and 
alarm  is  felt  and  manifested  on  their  part — not  on  mine.  I 
may  be  rash — I  may  be  obstinate — but  I  fear  no  man  or  body 
of  men.  In  this  vindication  of  myself,  I  am  simply  vindicating 
every  other  abolitionist  who  is  publicly  engaged  in  this  cause. 

"  '  Why  don't  you  go  to  the  South  f ' 

"  Why,  sir,  when  we  denounce  the  tyranny  exercised  over 
the  miserable  Poles,  do  we  not  go  into  the  dominions  of  the 
Russian  autocrat,  and  beard  him  to  his  face "?  Why  not  go  to 
Constantinople,  and  protest  against  the  oppression  of  the 
Greeks  ?  Why  assail  the  despotic  governments  of  Europe  here 
in  the  United  States? — Why,  then,  should  we  go  into  the 
slaveholding  States,  to  assail  their  towering  wickedness,  at  a 
time  when  we  are  sure  that  we  should  be  gagged,  or  imprisoned, 
or  put  to  death,  if  we  went  thither  •?  Why  rashly  throw  our 
selves  into  the  ocean,  or  commit  ourselves  to  the  flames,  or 
cast  ourselves  into  the  jaws  of  the  lion  ?  Understand  me,  sir, 
I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  even  the  certainty  of  destruction  is, 
in  itself,  a  valid  reason  for  our  refusing  to  go  to  the  South ;  — 
for  we  are  bound  to  take  up  any  cross,  or  incur  any  peril,  in 
the  discharge  of  our  duty  to  God  and  our  suffering  brother. 
Prove  to  me  that  it  is  imperatively  my  duty,  in  view  of  all  the 
circumstances  of  the  case,  to  locate  myself  among  slaveholders, 
and  I  will  not  hesitate  to  do  so,  even  (to  borrow  the  strong 
language  of  Martin  Luther)  though  every  tile  upon  their 
houses  were  a  devil.  Moral  courage — duty — self -consecration 
— all  have  their  proper  limits.  When  He  who  knew  no  fear  — 
the  immaculate  Redeemer  —  saw  that  his  enemies  intended  to 
cast  him  down  from  the  brow  of  a  hill,  he  prudently  withdrew 


508  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKKISON.  [^T.  30. 

CHAP.  XIV.  from  their  midst.  When  he  sent  forth  his  apostles,  he  said 
jjj""-  unto  them,  '  When  they  persecute  you  in  one  city,  flee  ye  into 
another.'  Was  there  any  cowardice  in  this  conduct,  or  in  this 
advice  ? 

"  i  Why  don't  you  go  to  the  South  f  ' 

"  If  we  slwuld  go  there,  and  fall — as  fall  we  certainly  should 
— martyrs  to  our  zeal,  our  enemies  would  still  call  us,  what  we 
then  should  deserve  to  be  called,  fanatics  and  madmen.  Point 
ing  at  our  mangled  bodies,  they  would  commence  their  derisions 
afresh.  t  Poor  fools ! '  they  would  exclaim — *  insane  enthusiasts  ! 
thus  to  rush  into  the  cage  of  the  tiger,  with  the  certain  knowl 
edge  that  he  would  tear  them  in  pieces ! '  And  this,  sir,  would 
be  the  eulogy  which  they  would  pronounce  over  us ! 

"  '  Why  don't  you  go  to  the  South  f ' 

"  Because  it  is  essential  that  the  beam  should  first  be  cast  out 
of  the  eyes  of  the  people  of  the  free  States,  before  they  attempt 
to  cast  out  the  mote  in  the  eyes  of  the  people  of  the  slave  States. 
Because  they  who  denounce  fraud,  and  cruelty,  and  oppression, 
should  first  become  honest,  and  merciful,  and  free,  themselves. 
*  Thou  that  sayest,  a  man  should  not  steal  —  dost  thou  steal?7 
Thou  that  preachest,  a  man  should  not  be  a  slaveholder  —  art 
thou  a  slaveholder  ?  '  Physician,  heal  thyself ! ' 

"  i  Why  don't  you  go  to  the  South  f  ' 

"Have  I  answered  the  question  satisfactorily?  If  not,  sir, 
you  will  help  me  to  additional  reasons  for  our  staying  here  at 
the  North,  in  my  answer  to  another  question  which  is  iterated 
on  all  occasions  —  viz. 

"  t  What  have  we  to  do  with  Southern  slavery  ? ' 

"  This  question  is  put,  sometimes  with  reference  to  legislation 

—  at  others,  it  refers  to  moral  obligation.     I  answer,  then,  that 
WE,  THE  PEOPLE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  have  legislated  on 
the  subject  of  slavery,  and  we  have  a  right  to  legislate  upon  it, 
within  certain  limits.     As  to  our  moral  obligation,  it  belongs  to 
our  nature,  and  is  a  part  of  our  accountability,  of  which  neither 
time  nor  distance,  neither  climate  nor  location,  neither  repub 
lican  nor  monarchical  government,  can  divest  us.     Let  there  be 
but  one  slave  on  the  face  of  the  globe  —  let  him  stand  on  one 
extremity  of  the  globe,  and  place  me  on  the  other  —  let  every 
people,  and  tribe,  and  clime,  and  nation,  stand  as  barriers  be 
tween  him  and  myself  :  still,  I  am  bound  to  sympathize  with  him 

—  to  pray,  and  toil,  and  plead  for  his  deliverance  —  to  make 
known  his  wrongs,  and  vindicate  his  rights.     It  may  not  be  in 
my  power,  it  may  not  be  my  duty,  directly  to  emancipate  him  j 


^ET.  30.]  THE   BOSTON   MOB. —  I.  509 

for  the  power  rests  in  the  hands  of  the  tyrant  who  keeps  him  CHAP.  XIV. 
in  chains,  and  it  is  his  duty  to  break  them  asunder.  But  it  ^ 
matters  not,  except  to  demand  an  increase  of  zeal  and  activity, 
if  every  interposing  tribe  or  nation,  if  the  whole  world,  is  to  be 
changed,  before  that  solitary  slave  can  go  free.  Then  I  will 
begin  with  him  who  stands  next  by  my  side,  and  with  my  asso 
ciates,  and  with  my  country  j  and  if  the  impulse  must  be  sent 
by  proxy,  if  every  man,  woman  and  child  must  be  abolitionized 
by  detail,  before  the  captive  can  be  disenthralled,  I  am  never 
theless  bound  to  commence  the  work,  if  no  others  will,  and  to 
cooperate  with  them  if  they  have  begun  it.  Why  ?  Because 
he  is  my  neighbor,  though  occupying  the  remotest  point  of  the 
earth  ;  and  I  am  charged  by  the  Lamb  of  God,  the  judge  of 
quick  and  dead,  to  love  my  neighbor  as  myself.  .  .  .  Because 
by  it  an  example  is  set  which,  if  passively  submitted  to,  may  lead 
to  the  enslavement  of  others  —  of  a  community  —  of  a  people  — 
of  myself.  Enslave  but  a  single  human  being,  and  the  liberty  of  the 
world  is  put  in  peril.  .  .  .  Hence  it  is,  that  whether  I  con 
template  slavery  singly  or  in  the  aggregate,  my  soul  kindles 
within  me  —  the  entire  man  is  moved  with  indignation  and  ab 
horrence  —  I  cannot  pause,  I  cannot  slumber  —  I  am  ready  for 
attack,  and  will  admit  of  no  truce  and  of  no  compromise.  The 
war  is  a  war  of  extermination  j  and  I  will  perish  before  an  inch 
shall  be  surrendered,  seeing  that  the  liberties  of  mankind,  the 
happiness  and  harmony  of  the  universe,  and  the  authority  and 
majesty  of  Almighty  God,  are  involved  in  the  issue. 

"What  have  we  to  do  with  Southern  slavery1!  What  has 
England  to  do  with  it  ?  And  yet,  a  few  years  since,  the  Ameri 
can  Colonization  Society  (of  which,  Mr.  Sprague,  you  are  a 
champion)  sent  out  an  agent  to  that  country  to  procure  the 
charities  of  her  philanthropists,  in  order  to  undermine  and 
abolish  American  slavery — this  being  the  great  object  of  the 
Society,  as  stated  to  the  British  public  by  that  Agent.  Now,  if 
Old  England  may  meddle  with  this  '  delicate  '  subject,  surely 
New  England  may  venture  to  do  so  likewise.  If  that  which  is 
remote  is  or  ought  to  be  interested  in  the  abolition  of  American 
slavery,  how  much  more  that  which  is  near ! 

u  I  rejoice — join  with  me  in  this  exultation,  friends  of  free 
dom  !  friends  of  humanity!  —  I  rejoice  that  Old  England  did 
not  meanly  wrap  herself  up  in  the  garb  of  indifference  or 
selfishness,  but  acted  in  a  manner  worthy  of  her  Christian 
renown.  I  am  glad,  and  grateful,  that  she  promptly  responded 
to  the  call  of  the  Agent  of  the  American  Colonization  Society, 


510  WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKRISON.  OE-r.  30. 

CHAP.  XIV.  for  assistance  to  put  down  American  slavery ;  and  I  honor  her 
j^T-  wisdom  and  discernment  in  refusing  to  trust  that  Agent  and  his 
Society,  and  in  sending  out  to  our  aid  one  whom  she  could  trust — 
one  who  was  signally  instrumental  in  bringing  herself  to  repent 
ance — one  who  has  the  confidence,  and  love,  and  admiration  of 
her  wisest  and  greatest  and  best  of  men  and  philanthropists — 
the  self-sacrificing,  the  indefatigable,  the  courageous,  the  elo 
quent,  the  patriotic,  the  fearless  THOMPSON  !  Sir,  I  shall 
come,  in  due  course,  to  your  scurrilous  and  ferocious  attack 
upon  the  motives  and  designs  of  this  devoted  friend  of  God 
and  man  —  an  attack  which  is,  upon  the  face  of  it,  as  malig 
nant  as  the  spirit  of  murder.  GEORGE  THOMPSON  is  the  stead 
fast  and  sincere  friend  of  this  country,  and  will  hereafter  be 
ranked  among  her  greatest  benefactors.  In  respectability,  sir, 
he  is  your  equal  ;  and  in  eloquence  and  intellectual  strength, 
(and  I  extol  your  abilities),  incomparably  your  superior." 

Lib.  5 : 146.  With  the  second  letter  to  Sprague  we  need  not  detain 
ourselves.  It  was  no  less  pungent  and  forcible  than  the 
foregoing,  nor  less  irresistible  in  its  logic  ;  but  the  hand 
ling  was  lighter.  The  orator's  opening  professions  with 
regard  to  slavery, — that  he  had  always  regarded  it  as  a 
great  moral  and  political  evil,  and  earnestly  desired  its 
entire  abolition  by  the  South, — were  retorted  upon  him 
as  those  of  the  abolitionists,  and  as  warranting  the  Rich 
mond  Enquirer,  say,  in  offering  a  reward  for  his  abduc 
tion,  but  for  his  blowing  hot  and  cold  in  the  same 
breath.  And  why  so  much  uproar  over  a  few  abolition 
ists — with  their,  to  be  sure,  six  State  and  three  hundred 
auxiliary  associations,  all  formed  since  1831  and  in 
despite  of  persecution ;  and  their  four  hundred  meetings 
appointed  for  the  next  three  months,  as  an  offset  to  the 
series  of  Northern  town  meetings  now  in  progress  for 
their  suppression  ?  "  So,  then,  we  derive  from  our  op 
ponents  these  instructive  but  paradoxical  facts — that 
without  numbers,  we  are  multitudinous ;  that  without 
power,  we  are  sapping  the  foundations  of  the  confed 
eracy  ;  that  without  a  plan,  we  are  hastening  the  aboli 
tion  of  slavery;  and  that  without  reason  or  talent,  we 
are  rapidly  converting  the  nation!"  But,  "the  success 


JET.  30.] 


THE  BOSTON  MOB. —  I. 


511 


of  any  great  moral  enterprise  does  not  depend  upon  CHAP.  xiv. 


numbers.  Slavery  will  be  overthrown  before  a  majority 
of  all  the  people  shall  have  called  voluntarily,  and  on  the 
score  of  principle,  for  its  abolition" — a  striking  pro 
phecy,  fulfilled  to  the  very  letter. 

Mr.  Garrison's  first  letter  to  the  Hon.  Harrison  Gray 
Otis  was  in  a  different  tone,  being  tempered  by  a  still 
lingering  respect  and  personal  attachment : 


1835- 


Lib.  5 : 142. 


Lib.  5 : 142. 


Ante,  pp.  47, 
74.  120. 


"  In  proceeding  to  review  your  speech,  I  am  filled  with  sor 
rowful  emotions.  I  remember  how  intimately  associated  is  the 
name  of  OTIS  with  the  revolutionary  struggle  that  emanci 
pated  this  nation  from  the  thraldom  of  the  mother  country. 
You  have  dishonored  that  name  —  you  have  cast  a  stain  of 
blood  upon  your  reputation.  You  have  presumed  to  lift  up 
your  voice,  even  in  the  very  Cradle  of  Liberty,  in  panegyric  of 
the  vilest  '  brokers  in  the  trade  of  blood,'  in  denunciation  of 
the  best  friends  of  insulted  freedom,  and  in  support  of  'A 
BARGAIN'  which,  according  to  your  own  showing,  is  a 
loathsome  compound  of  selfishness,  oppression  and  villany. 
Well,  therefore,  in  respect  to  yourself  particularly,  may  I  feel 
sad  and  indignant.  Some  of  the  earliest  effusions  of  my 
pen  were  in  earnest  and  generous  defence  of  your  character 
against  the  calumnies  of  your  political  adversaries ;  for  in 
one.  particular,  at  least,  there  is  a  coincidence  of  suffering 
between  us, —  all  manner  of  evil  having  been  uttered  against 
us  FALSELY.  It  is  my  lot  to  be  branded  throughout  this 
country  as  an  agitator,  a  fanatic,  an  incendiary,  and  a  mad 
man.  There  is  one  epithet,  I  fervently  desire  to  thank  God, 
that  has  never  been  applied  to  me :  —  I  have  never  been  stig 
matized  as  a  slaveholder,  or  as  an  apologist  of  slavery.  No- 
no  !  Bad  as  my  traducers  conceive  me  to  be,  they  have  never 
reduced  me  so  low  in  the  scale  of  humanity,  nor  so  cruelly 
impeached  my  honesty,  nor  so  aspersed  my  patriotism,  as  to 
bring  so  scandalous  and  degrading  an  accusation  against  me. 
As  they  have  been  too  conscientious  to  throw  that  calumny  upon 
my  character,  I  cheerfully  forgive  them  all  the  rest,  and  thank 
them  for  their  magnanimity. 

"  On  other  occasions,  sir,  I  have  been  your  advocate.     With 
youthful  ardor  I  supported  your  nomination  for  the  office  of    Ante,  p.  47. 
Governor  of  this  Commonwealth.     My  maiden  speech  before  a    Ante,  p.  74. 
Boston  audience  was  in  your  behalf,  successfully  urging  the 


512  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GAKKISON.  [^T.  30. 


CHAP.  XIV.  propriety  of  nominating  you  to  represent  this  District  on  the 
j^"5  floor  of  Congress.  I  never  doubted  your  attachment  to  the 
Union  of  these  States  —  I  never  believed  you  to  be  inimical  to 
the  rights  of  man.  These  disclosures  I  make,  —  not  that  I  am 
any  longer  a  politician,  for  I  now  view  the  politics  of  this 
country  to  be  essentially  corrupt  and  unholy,  —  but  to  show 
you  that  in  my  strictures  I  am  not  actuated  by  any  political 
grudge,  and  that  my  regard  for  principle  is  stronger  than  my 
partiality  for  persons.  That  you  still  love  liberty,  I  do  not 
deny.  Liberty  for  whom  ?  For  the  black  as  well  as  the  white 
man  ?  0  no  !  For  yourself,  your  children,  and  your  white 
countrymen  —  for  tyrants,  but  not  for  slaves  —  for  the  strong 
and  powerful,  but  not  for  the  weak  and  needy—  for  the  rapa 
cious  and  violent,  but  not  for  the  guiltless  and  submissive  ! 
That  you  are  still  a  patriot,  I  care  not  to  dispute  ;  but  your 
patriotism  excludes  one-sixth  portion  of  your  countrymen  from 
its  embrace,  and  talks  approvingly  of  making  two  millions  and 
a  half  of  your  species  'nonentities'1!  That  you  hate  oppression, 
I  cannot  doubt  ;  but  it  is  not  the  oppression  of  the  black  man, 
but  only  of  the  white  ! 

"  Sir,  this  great  transgression  of  your  life  has  been  committed 
under  circumstances  of  peculiar  criminality.  '  The  frost  of 
nearly  three-score  years  and  ten  '  is  upon  your  head  j  —  the 
hand  of  l  time  and  affliction  '  presses  heavily  upon  you  —  your 
'  days  are  nearly  numbered  '  ;  and  you  will  be  soon  called  to 
stand  at  the  tribunal  of  Him  who  died  to  redeem  as  well  the 
blackest  as  the  whitest  of  our  race  !  Yet,  at  this  solemn  period, 
you  have  not  scrupled,  nay,  you  have  been  ambitious,  to  lead 
and  address  an  excited  multitude,  in  vindication  of  all  imagin 
able  wickedness,  embodied  in  one  great  system  of  crime  and 
blood  —  to  pander  to  the  lusts  and  desires  of  the  robbers  of 
God  and  his  poor  —  to  consign  over  to  the  l  tender  mercies  '  of 
cruel  taskmasters  multitudes  of  guiltless  men,  women  and 
children  —  and  to  denounce  as  *  an  unlawful  and  dangerous 
association  '  a  society  whose  only  object  is  to  bring  this  nation 
to  repentance,  through  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus  !  You  have 
made  a  speech  in  public,  (in  your  opinion,  *  probably  for  the 
last  time,')  to  prove  the  innocence  of  the  people  of  tho  free 
States,  because  they  have  agreed  to  acquiesce  in  '  the  claim  of 
the  South  to  consider  their  slaves  [the  rational,  accountable 
creatures  of  God]  as  CYPHERS  or  NONENTITIES  >—'  to 
seize  and  restore  runaway  slaves  '  —  to  allow  the  master  to 
'  exercise  all  the  political  rights  of  the  slave,  and  that  he 


.£T.  30.]  THE   BOSTON   MOB. —  I.  513 

should  be  NOTHING'— and  because,  on  framing  the  Federal  CHAP.  xiv. 
Constitution,  the  whole  nation  was  licensed  to  pursue,  for  jZ"5 
twenty  years  longer,  the  foreign  slave  trade,  which  even  you 
are  compelled  to  designate  as  *  the  abominable  traffic  ! '  '  Such,' 
you  declare,  '  is  the  bargain  which  we,  THE  PEOPLE  OF  THE 
UNITED  STATES,  have  made  with  each  other,' — '  with  our  eyes 
open ' — l  with  a  full  knowledge  of  all  the  circumstances  of  the 
case,  of  all  the  inducements  to  make  it,  of  all  the  objections 
that  could  be  made  against  it'!! — And  then  you  have  the 
infatuation  or  temerity  to  ask,  '  In  what  age  of  the  world,  and 
among  what  people  and  states,  was  a  compact  ever  made  more 
solemn  and  SACRED ?!!'  .  .  . 

"  Sir,  do  you  wish  to  put  it  within  the  power  of  impartial 
truth,  after  your  death,  to  place  upon  your  tombstone  this 
awful  inscription1?  If  not,  humble  yourself  before  God,  confess 
your  sin,  and  lift  up  your  voice  in  behalf  of  the  perishing  slave, 
as  loudly  as  you  have  spoken  in  defense  of  his  lordly  master ! 

"Here  lies  the  body  of 
H G O 


Reader,  weep  at  human  inconsistency  and  frailty ! 

The  last  public  act  of  his  life, 
A  life  conspicuous  for  many  honorable  traits, 

Was  an  earnest  defense  of 
THE  RIGHTS  OF  TYRANTS  AND  SLAVE-MONGERS 

To  hold  in  bondage,  as  their  property, 
The  bodies  and  souls  of  millions  of  his  own  countrymen  ! 

This  was  made  in 

'  THE  OLD  CRADLE  OF  LIBERTY,' 

In  the  year  of  our  Lord,  1835,  and  the  fifty-ninth  of  the 

Declaration  of  American  Independence ! 

Pause,  terrible  Truth  ! 
He  has  gone  to  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ ! 

'  Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  not  unto  one  of  tlie  least  of  these 
my  brethren,  ye  did  it  not  to  me.'" 

Mr.  Otis's  failure  to  find  in  the  Scriptures  any  prohibi 
tion  of  slavery,  and  challenge  to  produce  any,  were  met 
VOL.  I.— 33 


514 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKRISON. 


30. 


CHAP.  XIV. 

1835- 


Boston  Atlas, 

0^.22,1835; 

Right  and 

Wrong  in 

Boston,  1836, 

(i)/.  57- 


by  an  array  of  pertinent  extracts  from  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments.  Then,  after  detailing  the  circumstances  of 
the  refusal  of  Faneuil  Hall,  three  months  before,  by  the 
city  authorities,  in  response  to  the  customary  petition  of 
citizens,  for  the  needs  of  the  New  England  Anti-Slavery 
Convention  —  as  if  the  request  were  an  "  incendiary  "  one, 
and  the  proposed  use  of  the  hall  would  pollute  it  —  Mr. 
Garrison  declared :  "  The  cause  of  the  Needing  slaves  shall 
yet  be  pleaded  in  Faneuil  Hall,  in  tones  as  thrilling,  in 
language  as  stirring,  in  eloquence  as  irresistible,  as  were 
ever  heard  within  its  walls."1  And  his  letter  closed 
with  lofty  assurances  of  the  ultimate  and  speedy  triumph 
of  the  cause  of  freedom. 

We  need  not  try  to  imagine  the  effect  of  these  letters 
(we  pass  over  the  second  to  Mr.  Otis)  on  the  eminent  men 
to  whom  they  were  addressed,  and  who  assuredly  had 
never  been  publicly  impeached  before  in  such  a  manner. 
It  is  possible  that  the  same  ignorance  of  the  Liberator's 
contents  which  had  permitted  Messrs.  Sprague  and  Otis 
to  libel  the  abolitionists,  saved  their  dignity  from  being 
deeply  wounded.  To  the  editors  of  the  city  press,  and  to 
the  public  at  large  so  far  as  the  letters  could  reach  them 
at  first  or  second  hand,  there  was  something  almost  sac 
rilegious  in  Mr.  Garrison's  censure,  particularly  of  Otis.2 
An  obscure  young  man,  not  yet  thirty,  whose  name  was 

1  This  prediction  was  recalled  by  its  maker  in  Faneuil  Hall  itself  when  first 
opened  by  the  city  authorities  to  the  abolitionists  on  Jan.  24,  1839  ;  on  which 
occasion  "it  was  an  affecting  and  thrilling  sight  to  see  the  venerable  SETH 
SPRAGUE,  of  Duxbury,  (father  of  Peleg  Sprague  of  this  city,)  stand  up  in 
the  very  place  where  his  son  stood  in  1835,  advocating  with  all  his  soul  a 
cause  which  that  son  had  so  strongly  reprobated  as  detrimental  to  the  Union, 
and  repugnant  to  the  spirit  of  the  U.  S.  Constitution  "  (Lib.  9  : 19,  25). 

2  At  the  impeachment  trial  of  Judge  Prescott,  April  26, 1821,  Josiah  Quincy, 
Jr.,  of  the  then  graduating  class  at  Harvard  College,  had  on  either  side 
of  him  "personages  of  no  less  importance  than  President  Kirkland  and 
Harrison  Gray  Otis.     This  was  much,"  he  remarks,  sixty  years  afterwards, 
"as  if  a  student  of  Columbia  College  should  find  himself  sitting  between 
Secretary  Evarts  and  Cardinal  McCloskey  on  an  occasion  of  great  public 
interest.    No,  it  would  not  be  the  same  thing,  after  all;  for  none  of  the 
conspicuous  men  of  to-day  tower  so  majestically  above  the  rest  of  the  world 
as  their  predecessors  seemed  to  rise  above  the  smaller  communities  which 
were  subject  unto  them  "  ('  Figures  of  the  Past/  p.  47). 


^)T.  30.]  THE   BOSTON   MOB. —  I.  515 

unknown  to  Puritan  or  later  annals,  who  had  no  college  CHAP.  xiv. 
training  to  recommend  him  to  an  aristocracy  based  partly  ^5m 
upon  wealth  and  partly  upon  training,  who  was  beyond 
the  usual  social  restraints,  and  professed  no  church  con 
nection  while  manifesting  the  fervor  of  a  revivalist,  was 
attacking  (so  it  must  have  seemed,  instead  of  simply 
repelling)  the  sum  and  flower  and  very  type  of  "  respec 
tability."  Such  audacity  could  but  scandalize  the  class 
to  which  Messrs.  Otis  and  ,Sprague  belonged,  and  whose 
pent-up  violence  was  now  shortly  to  be  visited  upon  Mr. 
Garrison. 

Meantime,  let  us  see  how  the  editor  of  the  Liberator 
was  passing  his  temporary  exile  in  Brooklyn.  Two  days 
after  his  arrival  he  writes  to  Henry  Benson  in  Boston : 

"  We  are  all  on  the  tiptoe  of  expectation,  and  wait  with  great  MS.  Aug. 
impatience  for  the  arrival  of  the  mail  this  forenoon.  It  may 
be,  after  all,  that  the  Faneuil  Hall  meeting  will  prove  anything 
but  satisfactory  to  the  fiery  spirits  of  the  South,  for  they  have 
already  declared  that  to  '  rebuke '  the  fanatics  will  effect  nothing, 
and  that  they  will  be  satisfied  with  nothing  short  of  the  sup 
pression  of  anti-slavery  presses  by  legal  enactments  or  mobo- 
cratic  violence.  As  for  ourselves,  you  know,  we  care  not  what 
course  the  enemy  pursues :  —  whether  he  threatens  or  rebukes, 
whether  he  is  placable  or  furious,  our  cause  is  sure,  and  will  go 
ahead. 

"  The  quietude  of  Brooklyn  is  refreshing  to  my  spirit.  It 
seems  as  if  the  moral  elements  had  suddenly  become  hushed, 
and  that  violence,  oppression  and  sin  no  longer  abounded  in 
our  land.  Would  it  were  so  indeed !  .  .  . 

"  Unless  you  and  friend  K.  supply  me  pretty  freely  and  very    isaacKnapp. 
regularly  with  letters  and  papers,  I  shall  not  be  able  to  content 
myself  here  long,  away  from  the  field  of  strife.     I  trust  Mr.  K. 
will  examine  all  the  papers  carefully,  and  cut  out  of  them  every 
paragraph  that  meets  his  eyes  relative  to  our  subject." 

To  the  same  and  Knapp  jointly  he  writes,  August  29, 
that  he  has  received  the  Atlas  containing  the  Faneuil 
Hall  speeches.     "They  are  all  bad,  but  Sprague's  is  truly        MS. 
diabolical.     I  have  sent  you  a  letter  to  him  for  the  next 
paper,  and  do  not  mean  to  spare  him.    Another  letter  — 


516 


WILLIAM  LLOYD   GARRISON. 


.  30. 


CHAP.  xiv.   to  Otis  —  I  shall  send  by  the  next  conveyance.    That 

18^5.        meeting,  with  its  speeches,  will  do  our  cause  immense 

good  —  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  it'.   ...   I  wish  brother 

Geo.  Thomp-  Thompson  would  prepare  a  reply  to  Sprague's  murderous 
attack."  They  must  advise  him  [Garrison]  when  to  re 
turn.  Though  enjoying  himself  in  Brooklyn,  he  is  ready 
to  start  at  any  moment.  On  September  1,  to  Geo.  W. 
Benson  in  Providence,  he  writes  that  he  shall  probably 
remain  a  week  or  ten  days  longer.  "  Our  enemies  are 
working  bravely  to  put  down  slavery  —  God  grant  they 
may  succeed !  Give  my  choicest  affections  to  all  my  dear 
brethren  in  P.  ;  I  trust  none  of  us  will  prove  recreant  to 
our  God,  our  country,  the  cause  of  the  slave,  and  the 
interests  of  mankind.  The  arm  of  the  Almighty  will  be 
made  bare  in  our  defence." 

To  Henry  Benson,  September  3,  acknowledging  a  mis 
sive  "  addressed  to  '  George  Benson/  alias  Wm.  Lloyd 
Garrison  " : 


MS. 


J.  H.  Garri 
son. 


"  Every  line  from  you,  assuring  me  of  the  continued  safety 
and  repose  of  dear  Thompson,  awakens  thankfulness  to  God 
in  my  heart.  I  am  rather  sorry  that  he  has  concluded  to  visit 
Plymouth  [N.  H.]  at  present  j  for,  though  his  personal  risk 
may  not  be  great,  yet  it  is  more  than  probable  that  if  he  attempts 
to  speak,  the  meeting  will  be  disturbed.  There  is  yet  too  much 
fever,  and  too  little  rationality,  in  the  public  mind,  either  for 
him  or  any  of  us  to  make  addresses  to  the  patient  without  hav 
ing  him  attempt  to  knock  us  down.  Write  —  print  —  distrib 
ute  —  this  we  may  do  with  profit  to  our  cause.  I  am  glad  to 
learn  from  you  that  the  public  curiosity  still  continues  to  thirst 
after  our  publications.  Let  it  have  a  full  supply — for,  though 
we  have  not  sown  to  the  wind,  hitherto,  yet  we  are  able  to 
reap  in  the  whirlwind.  The  resolutions  and  speeches  of  our 
enemies  will  furnish  us  with  an  inexhaustible  supply  of  arms 
and  ammunition  to  carry  on  the  war.  I  would  not  take  a 
thousand  dollars  for  those  that  were  adopted  and  delivered  in 
what  was  once  the  old  Cradle  of  Liberty.  .  .  .  Let  our 
step  be  firm  —  our  demeanor  dignified  —  our  speech  just  and 
fearless.  .  .  . 

"  You  write  nothing  about  brother  James.  Has  he  yet  sailed 
from  Boston  ?  and  if  so,  under  what  circumstances  did  he  leave  ? 


.  30.] 


THE   BOSTON   MOB. — I. 


517 


My  heart  bleeds  over  him.     God  is  merciful  and  long-suffering   CHAP.  XIV. 
—  and  there  lies  all  my  hope  of  his  complete  restoration." 


To  George  W.  Benson,  at  Providence,  September  4 : 

ft  How  imminent  is  the  danger  that  hovers  about  the  persons 
of  our  friends  George  Thompson  and  Arthur  Tappan !  Rewards 
for  the  seizure  of  the  latter  are  multiplying — in  one  place  they 
offer  three  thousand  dollars  for  his  ears  — a  purse  has  been  made 
up,*publidy,  of  $20,000,  in  New  Orleans,  for  his  person.  I,  too, 
—  I  desire  to  bless  God,  —  am  involved  in  almost  equal  peril. 
I  have  just  received  a  letter  written  evidently  by  a  friendly 
hand,  in  which  I  am  apprised  that  '  my  life  is  sought  after,  and 
a  reward  of  $20,000  has  been  offered  for  my  head  by  six  Missis- 
sippians.'  He  says  — '  Beware  of  the  assassin !  May  God  pro 
tect  you ! '  and  signs  himself  '  A  Marylander,  and  a  resident  of 
Philadelphia.'"! 

To  the  same,  September  12 : 

"  Rumor  is  very  busy  in  disposing  of  the  persons  of  aboli 
tionists.  One  day,  she  sends  Arthur  and  Lewis  Tappan  across 
the  Atlantic  as  fast  as  the  winds  and  waves  can  carry  them. 
On  the  next,  she  puts  you  into  Providence  jail,  at  the  sugges 
tion  of  your  friends,  for  safe  keeping  from  your  enemies. 
Thompson  she  transports  to  Pittsburgh ;  and  she  says  I  am 
here  because  I  dare  not  go  back  to  Boston.  It  is  thus  we 
relieve  the  tediousness  and  monotony  of  those  who  have 
nothing  to  do  but  to  scandalize  and  gossip. 

u  I  have  just  received  a  letter  from  Brother  May,  written 
immediately  after  his  meeting  was  broken  up  by  a  shower  of 
brickbats,  &c.,  in  Haverhill.  By  the  tone  of  it  you  would  sup 
pose  he  had  done  something  better  than  making  a  fortune. 
He  manifests  a  lofty  spirit  and  indomitable  courage. 

lf  Our  brother  Thompson  had  a  narrow  escape  from  the  mob 
at  Concord,  and  Whittier  was  pelted  with  mud  and  stones,  but 

l  About  the  same  time  must  have  reached  Mr.  Garrison  a  precious  MS. 
document,  postage  ($1.50)  wilfully  unpaid,  mailed  in  his  care  from  Poco- 
taligo,  S.  C.,  by  W.  Ferguson  Hutson,  Secretary  of  the  Vigilance  Committee 
of  Prince  William's  Parish,  and  addressed  to  Levi  Woodbury,  of  New  Hamp 
shire,  as  the  supposed  author  of  "  a  certain  incendiary  publication  called 
Human  Rights."  The  writer  hints  at  offering  rewards  for  the  abduction  of 
"the  leading  men  who  are  thirsting  for  our  blood"  —  "your  Tappans, 
Garrisons,  and  Woodburys  "  —  and  thinks  the  Yankees  would  readily  turn 
to  "vending  more  profitable  notions  than  wooden  nutmegs." 


MS. 


Lib.  5 : 153, 
157- 


MS.  to  G. 

W.  Benson. 


September 2, 

T  -,I83S- 

Ltb.  5  :  143  ; 
May '  s  Rec 
ollections, 
p.  152- 


Lib.  5:157; 
Kennedy  s 

J.  G.  Whit- 
tier,  p.  112. 


518 


WILLIAM   LLOYD   GAKRISON. 


.  30. 


CHAP.  XIV.   he  escaped  bodily  damage.    His  soul,  being  intangible,  laughed 
l{JT5          at  the  salutation. 

"  That  some  of  us  will  be  assassinated  or  abducted,  seems 
more  than  probable  —  but  there  is  much  apparent,  without  any 
real  danger.  There  is  a  whole  eternity  of  consolation  in  this 
assurance  —  he  who  loses  his  lif e  for  Christ's  sake  shall  find  it. 
*  To  die  is  to  gain.' 

"  '  The  soul,  secured  in  her  existence,  smiles 
At  the  drawn  dagger,  and  defies  its  point.' 


Tfiomas  S. 
Grimke. 


MS.  Sept. 
12,  1835. 


"Angelina  E.  Grimke,  sister  of  the  lamented  Grimke,  has 
sent  me  a  soul-thrilling  epistle,  in  which,  with  a  spirit  worthy 
of  the  best  days  of  martyrdom,  she  says  — 'A  hope  gleams 
across  my  mind,  that  our  blood  will  be  spilt,  instead  of  the 
slaveholders' ;  our  lives  will  be  taken,  and  theirs  spared.' l  Is 
not  this  Christ-like  ? 

"  The  Southern  clergy  are  openly  abandoning  their  God, 
and  bowing  down  to  Satan,  the  prince  of  men-stealers.  They 
are  indeed  *  greedy  dogs,  and  dumb  dogs  that  cannot  bark,' 
except  at  abolitionists.  They  will  not  frighten  you,  nor 

"  Your  brother,  W.  L.  G." 

On  the  same  day  he  wrote  to  Henry  Benson,  with 
reference  to  the  mobbing  of  Thompson  at  Concord : 
"  These  things  cannot  last  long,  but  while  they  do  last, 
we  had  better  not  attempt  to  lecture.  I  think  our  first 
public  meeting  in  Boston  ought  to  be  with  reference, 
exclusively,  to  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of 
Columbia."  He  should  not  return  to  Boston  till  the 
week  after  next,  as  George  W.  Benson  was  coming  to 
Mrs.  Garri-  Brooklyn  on  a  visit.  "  Helen  is  filled  with  anxiety  and 
alarm  on  my  account.  She  trembles  when  she  thinks  of 

1  The  full  sentence  reads  :  "At  one  time  I  thought  this  system  would  be 
overthrown  in  blood,  with  the  confused  noise  of  the  warrior  ;  but  a  hope, 
etc."  (see  Lib.  5:150,  and  the  pamphlet  published  by  Isaac  Knapp  in  1836, 
in  which  Miss  Grimke''s  letter  stands  third  in  the  table  of  contents).  "It 
comes  to  us,"  said  the  editor  in  the  Liberator,  "  as  the  voice  of  an  angel.  .  .  . 
Yes,  we  respond  to  her  cheering  declaration,  This  is  a  cause  worth  dying  for 
—  dying,  not  in  the  midst  of  carnage,  upon  the  battlefield,  but  upon  the 
scaffold,  in  the  dungeon,  or  at  the  stake,  unresistingly,  bearing  testimony 
to  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  and  in  imitation  of  his  illustrious  example. 
If  by  the  shedding  of  our  blood  the  lives  of  our  enemies  may  be  saved,  let 
it  be  shed.  Father,  thy  will  be  done !"  (Lib.  Sept.  19,  1835). 


^T.  30.]  THE  BOSTON   MOB. — I.  519 

our  returning  to  Boston :  probably  there  is  less  danger  CHAP.  xiv. 
than  she  imagines."  1835. 

To  George  W.  Benson,  Thursday  A.  M.,  September  17 : 

"  Jail  or  no  jail,  we  are  expecting  to  see  you  in  Brooklyn  to-         MS. 
morrow  noon,  or  on  Saturday  at  farthest. 

"  I  suppose  you  have  heard  of  the  presentation  of  a  stout 
gallows  to  me,  at  23  Brighton  Street,  Boston,  by  order  of 
Judge  Lynch.  It  was  destroyed  by  the  city  authorities.1  I 
regret  that  it  was  not  preserved  for  our  Anti- Slavery  Museum. 
Thompson  has  presented  a  brickbat  to  it,  but  this  would  have 
been  a  more  substantial  curiosity. 

"  The  slave  States  continue  to  be  excessively  agitated.  They 
appear  to  have  organized  Vigilance  Committees  and  Lynch 
Clubs  in  various  places.  The  most  daring  propositions  are 
made  in  the  open  face  of  heaven  for  the  abduction  of  Arthur 
Tappan,  George  Thompson,  and  myself.  Public  and  private 
appropriations  of  money,  to  a  large  amount,  are  made  for  our 
seizure.  Our  preservation  is  remarkable.  I  presume  that  our 
principal  cities  will  be  visited  by  assassins,  legalized  by  the 
1  State  Rights '  Government  to  destroy  us.  It  matters  not.  To 
the  obedient,  death  is  no  calamity.  If  we  perish,  our  loss  will 
but  hasten  the  destruction  of  slavery  more  certainly.  My  mind 
is  full  of  peace  —  I  know  what  it  is  to  rejoice  in  tribulation. 

"  The  two  rival  political  parties,  Whigs  and  Jacksonians  or 
Van  Buren  men,  are  striving  to  see  who  will  show  the  most 

iThis  incident  is  thus  referred  to  in  the  Liberator  of  Sept.  19  (5: 151)  : 
"A  HEAVY  PRESENT. — On  Thursday  night  [Sept.  17],  some  persons  (who 
evidently  belong  to  that  thriftless  crew  who  are  spoken  of  in  holy  writ  as 
laboring  in  vain,  and  spending  their  strength  for  nought, )  at  considerable 
cost  and  trouble,  but  with  the  utmost  quietude,  erected  a  substantial  gal 
lows  in  front  of  our  domicil,  by  order  of  their  master,  Beelzebub.  It  was 
made  in  real  workmanship  style,  of  maple  joist,  five  inches  through  —  8  or 
9  feet  high — for  the  accommodation  of  two  persons.  Two  ropes  were 
suspended  at  equal  distances,  with  knots  in  hanging  order  —  signifying, 
perhaps,  that  JUSTICE  is  about  speedily  to  execute  those  twin-monsters, 
SLAVERY  and  COLONIZATION.  By  9  o'clock  in  the  morning  the 
street  was  thronged  with  curious  spectators,  and  soon  after  the  city 
authorities  ordered  it  to  be  sawed  up  and  removed :  no  disturbance 
ensued.  .  .  .  '  So  they  hanged  Haman  on  the  gallows  that  he  had  pre 
pared  for  Mordecai.'"  An  eye-witness  remembers  that  it  was  decorated 
with  sea-weed  gathered  from  the  conveniently  near  tide-water.  It  also 
bore  the  superscription,  "  By  order  of  Judge  Lynch."  "  If  the  Judge  has 
arrived  here,"  said  the  Post,  "  we  advise  him  to  take  private  lodgings 
while  he  stays,  and  clear  out  as  soon  as  possible  —  he  has  got  into  the 
wrong  box.  Garrison  has  taken  off  his  door-plate." 


520  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GAKKISON.  [^ET.  30. 


CHAP.  XIV.   hatred  towards  us,  and  do  us  the  most  injury,  in  order  to  win 
jZ-          Southern  votes.     They  are   all   ferocious  and  unprincipled, 
caring  not  for  God — truth — honesty — or  justice." 

Mr.  Garrison's  fellow-tenant  of  the  gallows  (in  the 
makers'  intention)  was  meantime  writing  him  as  follows : 

George  Thompson  to  W.  L.  Garrison. 

MS.  MARBLEHEAD  BEACH,  Tuesday  night, 

September  15,  1835. 

MY  DEAR  BROTHER  GARRISON:  Your  letter  of  the  3d, 
obtained  on  my  return  from  the  Granite  State,  was  truly 
refreshing.  Its  advice  with  reference  to  my  visit  to  Plymouth 
[N.  H.]  -was  received  too  late.  I  am  not  sorry,  as  I  had  the 
privilege  of  giving  three  lectures  to  quiet,  respectable,  and 
very  intelligent  audiences,  including  many  of  the  delegates  to 
the  General  Association,  then  in  session.  We  had  a  delightful 
sojourn  under  the  roof  of  our  truly  excellent  friend,  N.  P. 
Rogers.  He  is  a  charming  man  —  as  a  companion  I  hardly 
know  a  man  with  superior  endowments.  A  full  mind  ;  ready, 
polished  wit,  and  a  comprehensive  and  glowing  heart :  the 
whole  adorned  and  sanctified  by  the  influences  of  religion, 
which  I  believe  he  humbly  but  deeply  enjoys. 

You  would  have  been  delighted  to  have  shared  our  adven 
tures  in  Concord  (??)  on  the  memorable  night  of  the  4th  inst. 
The  mirthful  and  the  melancholy  were  so  strangely  and  equally 
blended  throughout,  that  I  scarcely  know  which  had  the 
advantage,  and  certainly  could  not  tell  the  story  of  our  "  hair 
breadth  'scapes"  without  exciting  your  risibility.  However, 
my  escape  from  the  ignorant  and  murderous  rabble  that 
clamored  and  thirsted  for  my  blood  was  very  providential,  and 
I  desire  to  feel  grateful  to  Him  who  I  believe  watches  over  our 
persons  and  our  cause,  and  will  restrain  the  malice  of  our  foes, 
or  cause  our  sufferings  to  advance  his  glory. 

Lib.  5:157;        Poor  Whittier  was  compelled  to  receive  a  tithe  of  the  ven- 
J  ^Whit-    geance  accumulated  for  me.    I  had  really  little  expectation  and 
tier,  p.  112.     less  desire  to  be  stoned  by  proxy,  but  such  is  the  fruit  of  keep 
ing  bad  company.     My  friends  must  be  cautious  lest  perchance 
they  be  made  the  vicarious  victims  of  that  wrath  which  has 
been  kindled  by  the  "  foreign  emissary." 

The  signs  of  the  times  are  encouraging.  I  do  not  think  the 
Boston  Gazette  is  quite  right  in  saying,  "  The  public  press,  with 


JET.  30.] 


THE   BOSTON   MOB. —  I. 


521 


scarcely  an  exception,  is  now  out  in  opposition  to  the  anti-    CHAP.  XIV. 


slavery  party."  There  are,  Mr.  Gazette,  many  noble  and  very 
cheering  exceptions :  instance  the  New  York  Evening  Post,  New 
York  Sun,  Salem  Gazette,  &c.,  &c.  And  even  the  Boston 
Courier  appears  to  be  looking  out  afar  —  elevating  his  nose  like 
a  pig  in  the  wind  —  and  carefully  oiling  the  pivot  of  the 
vane  that  it  may  easily  tack  about  when  the  right  breeze  shall 
spring  up.  I  have  this  day's  Courier  before  me.  It  contains 
the  first  of  a  series  of  letters  to  Messrs.  Otis,  Sprague  and 
Fletcher,  taking  anti-slavery  ground,  and  having  many  shrewd 
and  just  remarks.  If  the  others  are  as  good,  good  will  follow 
from  their  publication.  Buckingham  evidently  cares  little  for 
the  South.  He  commends  the  resolutions  offered  at  New 
Haven  as  substitutes  for  those  brought  forward  by  the  pro- 
slavery  party,  and  adds :  "  In  most  of  the  resolutions  passed 
on  this  subject  [abolition]  in  the  Northern  States  there  is  a 
lamentable  want  of  self-respect,  and  manifestations  of  an  overflow 
ing  spirit  of  cowardly  truckling  to  Southern  arrogance  and  presump 
tion. 

May,  who  was  with  me  to-day,  informed  me  that  a  recent 
Southern  paper  has  stated  that  if  the  prominent  fanatics  were 
not  put  down  by  the  strong  arm  of  the  Law  in  the  North, 
ASSASSINATION  would  cease  to  be  reprehensible  or  dishonorable. 
Such  writing  must  do  good.  Let  the  South  go  the  whole  length 
of  the  rope,  and  let  there  henceforth  be  no  mistake  about  the 
meaning  of  the  words  "  Southern  chivalry,"  "  highmindedness," 
"  nobility,"  "  bravery,"  "  generosity,"  &c.,  &c. 

I  have  greatly  admired  all  the  articles  you  have  written  since 
the  recent  tornado  commenced.  Go  on,  go  on.  One  word  of 
counsel — no,  suffer  the  expression  of  a  thought.  There  is  now 
enough  excitement.  An  appetite  to  read  has  been  created,  and 
this  is  the  time  for  a  full,  dignified  and  explicit  development 
of  our  principles,  and  a  calm  retrospect  of  the  course  we  have 
pursued.  Might  not  these  be  woven  into  the  replies  to  the 
Faneuil  Hall  Triumvirate  9  Hundreds  are  now  just  awake  on 
the  subject.  I  want  their  first  food  to  be  simple,  pure  and 
nourishing.  .  .  . 

The  final  editorial  directions  to  Henry  Benson  from 
his  brother-in-law  were  as  follows,  under  date  of  Satur 
day,  September  19 : 

"Your  letter  of  the  16th,  with  a  bundle  of  papers,  was 
brought  here  yesterday  by  brother  George.  I  have  gone  over 


1835- 


Joseph  T. 
Bucking 
ham. 


S.  J.  May. 


MS. 
G.  W.  Ben- 


522  WILLIAM  LLOYD   GARKISON.  [>£T.  30. 

their  contents  minutely,  and  now  send  the  fruits  of  my  scissors. 
Isaac  Knapp.  Friend  K.  will  be  puzzled  to  know  how  to  meet  such  a  rush  of 
matter  in  the  best  way — but  in  another  week  I  will  relieve  him. 
Let  all  these,  with  the  other  selections,  be  most  carefully  pre 
served.  Let  the  last  page  —  except  poetry  column — be  filled  up 
with  the  pieces  fa vorable  to  our  side,  especially  those  which  come 
from  papers  not  abolition,  as  they  will  have  more  weight  than 
others.  Of  course,  the  first  page  may  be  filled  with  the 
*  Refuge.'  As  it  is  difficult  to  dispose  of  long  articles,  let  the 
shortest  have  the  precedence  as  a  general  rule.  We  will  not 
insert  the  whole  proceedings  of  any  other  public  meetings  than 
those  already  published  —  I  will  make  a  synopsis  of  them  all. 
Those  pieces  which  tell  of  new  outrages  at  the  South,  and  of 
the  designs  of  the  Southerners,  should  be  promptly  inserted." 


END   OF   VOLUME   ONE. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  r. 

"I 

RENEWALS  ONLY  -Tel.  No.  642-3405 


LD  2lA-45w-9,'67 
(H5067slO)476B 


General  Library     . 
University  of  Califorms 
Berkeley 


APR  2  6  1968 


LD  21A-60?/i-10,'65 
(F7763slO)476B 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


